If we’re talking public good stuff, cars shouldn’t be able to run without seatbelts being fastened and the driver should sure as shit have to blow into a breathalyzer to get that thing to turn on. If you’re going to be using public roads, you should meet a threshold of safety for yourself and for other drivers around you.
This is actually maybe going to happen soon? I believe tucked within the Biden Admin's final IRA there was a provision for something along these lines...
Forget the middle of the country or middle of California, all of California would throw a shit-fit. LA in particular is a massive drunk driving city because there's no public transit and almost no walkable neighborhoods (someone who had people question him for walking a mile to a bar instead of driving while living in LA)
This feels like a good time to recommend Jessie Singer's There Are No Accidents. Our country chooses to let people die due to our forced reliance on private automobiles - car crashes, asthma-inducing smog, removing calming green spaces for wider highways. If we chose to build a better environment, which isn't terribly expensive or difficult, we'd get dramatically better results.
The hostility towards any sort of public or social good in this country is one of the biggest problems holding it back. Our specific brand of "American individuality" really means "I need people to look down on." Very few people support public transit because everyone is equal on the bus. If we start building things that help everyone equally then "undeserving" folks will benefit, and how will I know I'm one of the superior few? Anyway, great article, I agree completely and it's endlessly frustrating how much we just accept as "the way things are."
If we’re talking public good stuff, cars shouldn’t be able to run without seatbelts being fastened and the driver should sure as shit have to blow into a breathalyzer to get that thing to turn on. If you’re going to be using public roads, you should meet a threshold of safety for yourself and for other drivers around you.
This is actually maybe going to happen soon? I believe tucked within the Biden Admin's final IRA there was a provision for something along these lines...
edit to add: Alright, not final... seems like it's more of a "perennial wishlist" type item from the NTSB/other public health authorities -- https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1124171320/autos-drunk-driving-blood-alcohol-system-ntsb
Watch California do this and the entire middle of the country throw an absolute shit-fit.
Forget the country, I feel like the entire middle of *California* would throw an absolute shit-fit.
Forget the middle of the country or middle of California, all of California would throw a shit-fit. LA in particular is a massive drunk driving city because there's no public transit and almost no walkable neighborhoods (someone who had people question him for walking a mile to a bar instead of driving while living in LA)
Dave's substack is a great and worth the subscription
Ayy 🤝🤝🤝
This feels like a good time to recommend Jessie Singer's There Are No Accidents. Our country chooses to let people die due to our forced reliance on private automobiles - car crashes, asthma-inducing smog, removing calming green spaces for wider highways. If we chose to build a better environment, which isn't terribly expensive or difficult, we'd get dramatically better results.
Awesome! Yeah I've been meaning to read this for awhile, gotta bump it up my (endlessly growing) reading list!
The hostility towards any sort of public or social good in this country is one of the biggest problems holding it back. Our specific brand of "American individuality" really means "I need people to look down on." Very few people support public transit because everyone is equal on the bus. If we start building things that help everyone equally then "undeserving" folks will benefit, and how will I know I'm one of the superior few? Anyway, great article, I agree completely and it's endlessly frustrating how much we just accept as "the way things are."