-
The Golden Years
March 21, 2013 | 39 comments
-
Diesel Dilemmas
March 8, 2013 | 26 comments
-
Electric Lemon Aid
February 19, 2013 | 113 comments
-
The New Dart, in Light of the Old
January 11, 2013 | 48 comments
-
Speed Limiters, Too?
December 28, 2012 | 70 comments
Car Guy
Obama’s Man From MADD
Charles Hurley, the new National Highway Traffic Safety nominee, is eager to pull you over to check your breath.
When Big Things are going on, little things often slip by unnoticed. Such is the case with regard to the recent nomination of Charles Hurley to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is the federal government’s chief regulatory apparat governing both automobiles and what may be done with them on public roads.
NHTSA is actually a pretty big deal, given the power it wields over one of the country’s last remaining major industries, as well as anyone who drives a motor vehicle. And the nomination of Hurley is an ominous development for both. If his prior record is any indication, we can expect more in the way of arbitrary interference with the way the car companies do business at a moment when they can least afford the burden of bureaucratic meddling. And drivers can expect a ratcheting up of the low-grade harassment they already endure — in the form of more obnoxious laws, especially “safety” checks and very possibly lowered speed limits — all of it imposed on the states in the time-honored way: Uncle Sam will withhold federal highway funds for any refusal to toe the line.
Why be worried? For openers, Hurley is a former leader of Mothers Against Drunk Driving — arguably the most unreasonable and totalitarian-minded “special interest” in all of D.C. Its original mission — a public campaign to make driving drunk unacceptable — has metastasized into a crusade against any consumption of alcohol whatsoever. The legal standard for “drunk” driving has already been lowered to .08 BAC — a level well below the .10 and up at which people have actual accidents as opposed to running afoul of “sobriety checkpoints.”
But even that isn’t enough. MADD wants the legal threshold reduced to .04 BAC, which would turn anyone who had a glass of wine over dinner into a “drunk driver” as far as the law was concerned — and subject them to penalties more severe than those applied to many violent felons.
Hurley was the chief cheerleader for this grossly disproportionate, factually unsupportable crusade. As NHTSA head, expect him to push the MADD agenda as far as he can — including mandatory in-car alcohol detectors for everyone, not just those already convicted of DWI. “Sobriety checkpoints” — where random people are randomly subjected to Gestapo-like stop and frisks, for absolutely no reason other than they happened to be driving on a particular road at a given time — will be stepped up.
Prior to becoming MADD’s Obergruppenführer, Hurley was head of the National Safety Council — essentially, the agit-prop organ of the insurance cartel — where he helped force-feed airbags and “primary enforcement” seat belt laws on the public.
Mandatory airbags — which add thousands of dollars to the price/lifetime ownership costs of every new car — have arguably helped undermine the car industry by making new cars much more expensive and thus less affordable to consumers as well as less profitable to sell. Airbags are also the only “safety” device known to maim and even kill. It’s true “only” a relative handful of people have been sent to a slab or permanently disfigured (eyes popped out of their sockets, etc.) by the force of a deploying airbag. But one imagines that matters a great deal to those involved, if not to Hurley.
Some might argue they’d prefer to make the choice to have or not have airbags — for safety or cost reasons — on their own. Hurley sneers at such a concept. If “most” people benefit from airbags (according to him), then what of the few who might get hurt? To make an omelet, one must break eggs, after all. And the cost? Improved “safety” — as defined by Hurley — is well worth the expense. The Little People must have guidance since they are too dumb to know what’s best for them.
The same goes for laws that make wearing a seatbelt mandatory — and which give the cops authority to pull drivers over for failing to do so. Hurley, like the rest of Washington’s ruling caste, knows what’s best for us — and intends to enforce it at gunpoint.
As head of NHTSA, he will wield immense power to do precisely that — and more besides. Expect photo radar and red light cameras to proliferate; have no doubt there will be a major push for a “pay as you go” driving tax — with mandatory GPS transponders for every vehicle, so that Uncle can keep track of where, when, and how much you drive — and send you a bill accordingly.
The good times are only just starting to roll.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (52) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Eric Peters
More Articles From Car Guy
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/05/01/obamas-man-from-madd
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Stephen| 5.1.09 @ 7:10AM
Obama and Co. are going to make the Taliban look soft, in a completely secular way, of course.
I could just throw up. Maybe I should take the job in New Zealand. Or move to Samoa.
Paul Curley| 5.1.09 @ 7:55AM
Sirs,
Eric Peters' "Car Guy" contributions are amongst the best that Am Spec offers. Please keep them coming!
Ed IV| 5.1.09 @ 9:55AM
I read last year that the 0.08 BAC limit actually results in an increase in alcohol related traffic accidents and fatalities. The reason is at 0.08, you are really not much of a threat to anyone, but if you are arrested, that pulls a cop off of the streets for hours - time that they could be spending out looking for the real drunks - the 0.20 alcoholics who really do need to be arrested, and who pose a serious threat to life & limb.
Sean| 5.1.09 @ 9:56AM
What nonsense. Can't you wait to be hit before you start crying?
Seatbelts, and laws enforcing them, have saved thousands. I defy Peters to show how they are enforced at gunpoint. Perhaps he champions Britney's freedom to hold her baby in her arms while flying down the freeway.
2Anglico| 5.1.09 @ 10:04AM
The government has a legitimate interest in me having funtional brakes but NO interest in my use of a seatbelt.
cc| 5.1.09 @ 10:08AM
drunk drivers killed more than 10,000 americans last year far more than al queda. Forget the breathelyzer use waterboarding to interogate suspected DUIs.
dnha14| 5.1.09 @ 10:32AM
Why was a man the leader of Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Couldn't the feminists find a woman that could handle the job?
PS. I agree that drunk drivers should be treated harshly. A lot harsher than they usually are. But, 0.04? Just holding a wine bottle will get you there.
Sean| 5.1.09 @ 10:34AM
2Angelico, I'm guessing by your viewpoint that you regard children as property.
Are You Sure?| 5.1.09 @ 11:05AM
Find us one instance where MADD has promoted .04! There isn't any. It's a product of internet bloging. Nice source.
Ed IV| 5.1.09 @ 11:13AM
To finish my previous thought, I believe the article said that states with a BAC limit of 0.12 had the lowest rates of alcohol related traffic accidents.
Phil| 5.1.09 @ 11:39AM
I always wear my seat-belt, however at a traffic stop I was also ticketed for not wearing one.
When I was pulled over I took my belt off so I could take out my wallet. Because my belt was off when the officer walked up he ticketed me! It was then my word against his in court and guess who the judge believed! The fact that the officer didn’t see me driving without it on and the fact that the car was in park when I un-did it didn’t hold water. I knew it was a lost cause when I walked into court and the cop was up at the bench shooting the bull with the judge.
Most traffic laws are all about generating revenue, not public safety.
2Anglico| 5.1.09 @ 11:50AM
Sean you are a dope! You can't read or spell.
2Anglico| 5.1.09 @ 11:53AM
Functional, there, I corrected my typo.
Ark Ashamed of Bill| 5.1.09 @ 12:03PM
This development can be seen as a reunion of the Abolitionist-Progressive Left (yes, the Abolitionists were leftists, see Daniel J. Flynn’s “A Conservative History of the American Left”), which originated the Prohibition disaster, and the Radical Marxist Left. Neither branch of the Left values the Founders’ concepts of liberty, and prohibitionism is another puritanical scheme to use state power to create the false appearance of virtue by eliminating the freedom to make choices. Joe Bob Briggs noticed the prohibitionist nature of MADD back in 2002; see “Too Drunk to Drive, or Just Too Drunk?” July 4, 2002, http://www.joebobbriggs.com/jbamerica/2002/jba20020704.html.
Bob Alou| 5.1.09 @ 12:06PM
Since the government does, not yet, incur my health care costs, it obviates the argument that my safety costs everyone if not properly regulated by mandatory seat belt laws. The ultimate irony is, even in a car with no seat belt on I am safer than on a motorcycle with, or without a helmet. Yet many states TX, NM in which I have lived, among others, allow no helmets but ticket seat belt infractions. Those who think the safety nannies are ever going to be satisfied need to recognize it is less about safety than revenue.
JP| 5.1.09 @ 12:16PM
Here is a good lesson in Federalism. It is the local and State Police who enforce drunk driving laws. Drunk driving laws are written by the states. Of course, for decades Congress has used federal tax dollars (collected from the states) to promote thier agenda de jour. This means that special interest groups via K-Street lawyers end up shaping an agenda that most states do not underwrite.
MADD, like most actvist groups never intends one day to close-up shop declaring that thier work is done. They continue to push the envelope. By thier logic, thier work with drunk drivers will end once alcohol is prohibited. In that case, they will just expand thier operations to other areas (cell-phones, obesity, global warming. Take your pick). Thier influence is directly a function of the size and scope of the federal goverment. Limt that size and the amount of money going to it, and you put MAD and groups like it out of business.
Joe| 5.1.09 @ 1:08PM
All I can say is this is socializm. It destroy economies, takes away freedom and leaves despare in its wake. We told you so!!! That's why we know the true liberals are conservatives.
TomC| 5.1.09 @ 1:50PM
Will the NHTSA actually condone torture, too? This guy should be running the CIA!
Funny how this lefty thinks that a few "victims" of dangerous airbag inflation are acceptable and well worth the cost to save a few American lives. But the left also says putting a terrorist in a box with a bug to "save a few American lives" is wrong and immoral?
Ah, such is the intellectual and moral vacuity of modern left-wingers, today. They want to control everything.
John Navratil| 5.1.09 @ 3:05PM
Sean -- seatbelts have undoubtedly saved lives and I wear them all them time. The seatbelt laws, however, have saved no one. Ever seen a dead person ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt. Sounds like a sophistry? It's not! The person at risk is the person taking the risk which is why child safety seats are not subject to the same criticism. The argument that others are put at financial risk by one not wearing seatbelts is an argument over Socialism, not safety.
Consider the "open container" law. Ever seen a drunk ticketed for an open container? It doesn't happen! The only person affected by the open container law is the person who is drinking, but is not above the legal limit. What's the sense of that? Either you are drunk or you are not. Does it matter if the drink was consumed before or after entering the vehicle?
These nanny state laws are overly intrusive; they serve as revenue generators. More importantly, they create a disrespect for the law.
Doplar| 5.1.09 @ 3:13PM
The gov't is taking the right to choose away from most everyone except, of course, pregnant women. I wonder, does smoking kill as many people each year as does abortion clinics.
I'm sure someone could drum up statistics from "non-scientific" studies to show that it does. Nevertheless, I doubt if by far.
Just wait till it becomes a crime to eat fatty foods, then you'll see. Sheeez, shore am glad I want be here for that one, I hope.
MF| 5.1.09 @ 3:59PM
I'll tell you how they enforce at gunpoint. A CHP officer pulled me over because he saw my 3 year old from the back seat point at him (my boy likes law enforcement people) and assumed he was not tethered safely in his car seat. He was tethered safely in his seat but the friendly armed CHP officer contended he was not tied down tight enough. This is how it starts. If all the bags are so good why don't we hear of them saving the life of a crash victim on the news? I have been watching reports for a long time waiting to hear of the miraculous saving power of the bags. I'm still waiting. All have helped drive the domestic car companies to the brink.
ben| 5.1.09 @ 5:26PM
The safety measures added to cars like airbags not only increase the price of the car but also the weight of the car, which effect the gas mileage. In 1990 we had over 10 vehicles that exceeded 40-mpg, how many are there now? Add in mpg mandates and the cost of new cars goes even higher. At the same time Obama, and the Dem congress are spending heavily on public transportation like High-Speed Rails and busses, want to tax gas into oblivion and tax us for the miles we drive to make up for the lost revenue from high gas taxes that come when people can't afford to buy gas. This will lead to is only the rich elite having cars and the rest of our movements being controlled.
Sean| 5.1.09 @ 6:21PM
2Anglico, if you observe the seatbelt laws for your kids, you have my apology. If you don't, you're a throwback.
Brad C| 5.1.09 @ 6:44PM
There is an organization that would like to counter all this nanny state nonsense - http://www.motorists.com - National Motorist Assoc. They were behind the push to get rid of the national speed limit of 55/65 mph back in 1995/1996.
We need to support organizations like the NMA to keep out driving freedom. One thing to consider, Mr. Hurley believes going overboard on the idea that driving is a privilege and the US Constitution doesn't apply. He would like to have many checkpoints where drivers are randomly picked to be harassed, searched, inspected and arrested/cited if anything is out of order. Hitler would be proud of him.
Sean| 5.2.09 @ 3:43PM
Time to undue seat belt laws and the .08 limit. States will need to show some backbone to do it.
Dave Lincoln| 5.2.09 @ 5:28PM
vxcvx - tell me something I don't know.
Eric Peters - Great article, I don't know if we have enough freedom-loving people left, however, in America, to overcome the votes of the sheep.
Bubba Shawn| 5.2.09 @ 9:23PM
Cradle to grave, the nanny state is America's future with the Obama election. Hopefully, the Republican Party can find its soul before another socialist follows the current White House occupant.
Pingback| 5.3.09 @ 7:31AM
Obama’s Man From MADD links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
BPT (Australia) | 5.3.09 @ 9:48AM
This. Is. Maddening. He was the leader of the hysterical Mothers Against Drunk Driving? Sorry I’m confused. Does that mean he wears panties?
Dave Lincoln| 5.3.09 @ 5:23PM
BPT, I guess because you are from down under you may not understand our terminology here. When we refer to this Hurley A-Hole as a "Mother", we mean it in the sense of "This Hurley guy is one tyrannical Mother_______"
See? Well, it's a black thing, you wouldn't understand; heck, I shouldn't either, with my bad self.
Country Boy| 5.4.09 @ 12:42AM
My casual observation is that most traffic fatalities involve large trucks. The physics are obvious: 40 tons versus 1 ton. The problem is, the acronym doesn't work - MATD (Mothers Against Truck Drivers). The MADD jingle works much better.
Brother John| 5.7.09 @ 3:50PM
Sean: I will explain how seat belt laws are enforced at gunpoint. In those areas where the failure to wear your seat belt is a primary offense, I drive past the local John Q Laws while unbuckled. He comes after me; if I flee, he will eventually take deadly measures to secure my submission. I don't flee, he pulls me over (thus violating my liberty, as I have not violated that, or the person or property of any other) and issues me a fine, or a summons. As this is not the concern of the good officer or the magistrate before whom I am ordered to appear, I have the choice: either face being separated from my property (my car, or my money) or face being separated from my liberty (eventual imprisonment for defying judgement). There you go. Gunpoint. Far too many supposed violations will put you in this same position: disabling an airbag, "speeding," etc.
Red Blue| 6.3.09 @ 2:54AM
MADD IS AN ORGANIZATION OF LUNITICS. THE SHOULD FIT RIGHT IN WITH THE OBAMA PANTHON OF SELF RIGHTOUS DEMIGODS IN THE NEW THEOCRACY WITH NO GOD! COLLECTIVIST TOTALITARIANS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE COUNTRY.
dsfas| 8.13.09 @ 3:18AM
cmc audio rca H1N1The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, which had gotten off to a slow start in March, is slated to shut down at the end of December. And people are having trouble getting loans anyway, analysts say. More recently, the program was expanded to provide relief to the commercial real-estate market.
wbt audio rca
The Fed has been weighing whether it should endwbt rca some of its economic revival programs now that signs are growing that the worst recession to hit the country since World War II is drawing to a close.
audio rca
Many analysts believe the economy — which logged a mild contraction in the second quarter after a dizzying fall in the prior six months — is growing now.
wbt binding posts
"A paradigm shift is occurring at policy deliberations of the Federal Reserve,"
wbt rca type socketssaid Sung Won Sohn, an economist at California State University, Channel Islands. wbt rca type plugs"The officials are no longer worried about a severe retrenchment as they were late last year.cmc Now, they are trying to sustain the economic recovery in motion."
Lingerie | 9.17.09 @ 9:33PM
sexy lingerie wholesale lingerie