Comment by throwaway0123_5

Comment by throwaway0123_5 16 hours ago

14 replies

> I would adore to see obtaining a drivers license ratchet up in difficulty in order to remove dangerous human drivers from the road.

I think it would be far more effective to make it easier to lose your license than it would be to make getting the license more challenging.

The absolute most dangerous drivers I see on the road aren't bad drivers in the sense that they're unskilled at controlling their car. I can't weave between cars at 120 mph or cross three lanes of traffic to make an exit I didn't see until the last second without killing myself, but I routinely see people do that. Sure they don't care about driving safely and/or following the law, but they're probably sane enough to pull it together for a brief driving test.

The other big category of dangerous drivers is drunk/distracted (texting) drivers. Again, most of the people engaging in these behaviors are probably smart enough not to do them during a driving test.

Retric 10 hours ago

Currently people will just ignore a revoked license the same way they ignore other traffic laws.

So I think ~level 5 self driving cars becoming common + a modification to prevent people using their cars just like we install breathalyzers for habitual DUI drivers is needed before revoking people’s licenses is really a meaningful punishment.

  • throwaway0123_5 8 hours ago

    Doubtless some would ignore it, but you can go to jail for driving on a suspended license. I suspect there are a lot more people willing to risk a traffic ticket and a few $100 in fines for speeding, bad lane changes, etc. than there are people willing to risk jail for driving on a suspended license.

    • donalhunt 2 hours ago

      s/some/plenty/

      In Ireland, jail time is rare for such offences sadly. In cases where jail time is sentenced, overcrowding in prisons often results in early release.

dbg31415 13 hours ago

> I think it would be far more effective to make it easier to lose your license than it would be to make getting the license more challenging.

For your system to work, there would actually need to be cops watching traffic.

Since the pandemic, some cities just don't have as many police watching the streets as they used to.

For example, there is virtually no traffic enforcement in Austin now. You see the results with how much people speed now, and how awful some drivers behave on the road.

* Traffic enforcement capacity in Austin dropped significantly -- traffic citations fell about 55% between 2018–2022.

https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Audito...

* As a result, speeding tickets, which once averaged 100 per day in 2017, dropped to about 10 per day by 2021 -- a 90% decrease.

https://www.kut.org/transportation/2022-02-24/austin-police-...

  • lazide 2 hours ago

    But why? Did they fire all the cops? Or did the cops just stop doing their jobs?

  • scyzoryk_xyz 12 hours ago

    If only there were other ways of tracking and observing vehicle behavior. And some reliable way of identifying vehicles themselves. Or ways that we could automate this with computers to sort through.

    But that's just science fiction. Cars are just going to be cars!

    • beAbU 2 hours ago

      Kinda funny how the HN crowd can both decry and advocate for automated mass surveillance at the same time.

      • scyzoryk_xyz 29 minutes ago

        The HN crowd wouldn't see the tounge in cheek humor if it hit them in the face.

        Vehicles have these things called license plates and take a license to operate. It's not dystopian mass surveillance or a technical challenge to have a camera assigning tickets for operating machinery dangerously in public spaces.

    • dzhiurgis 10 hours ago

      Kinda more dystopian the ads have better tracking of us than law enforcement.

    • cwmoore 12 hours ago

      It sounds like you have a problem with the police, ok? Step outside please.

nipponese 12 hours ago

Don't you think it would be easier and cheaper to gatekeep than to build up an enforcement and judgement workforce.

  • dbmikus 10 hours ago

    The people that are good but dangerous drivers will drive well and safely during tests, so you won't catch them.

    • mcny 5 hours ago

      We need a consistently reliable public transit system before we tell people they can't drive for one reason or another.

      • AlecSchueler 2 hours ago

        Allow drink driving in places with no metro system? There are obviously lines to be drawn in what you allow, for the safety of others, regardless of the alternatives. That said, we can absolutely work on improving public transport at the same time. There's no reason to have to fully solve public transport before trying to tackle dangerous driving.