As autonomous vehicles begin proliferating, and services like Uber begin using them, I hope to see legislation change to make driving a privilege rather than a right. Some (many) drivers don’t belong behind a wheel, ever. They belong in the back seat.
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At least in Canada, driving is not and has never been a right; driving is most definitely a privilege. People may act like it is their right, but it is not treated as such.
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Perhaps we should all be carrying cameras front and back. Get those license plates numbers at a minimum.
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As hesitant as I am to spend $600 on cameras rather than other stuff like a power meter, or more bikes, they are good insurance and at least have utility as a riding camera outside of the safety reason for having them.
I agree. It conversely, at least in Toronto, the roads are FULL of people who do not deserve to be allowed to drive.
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It is a defacto right in America. I worked with a guy with a DUI, lost his license, but was still legally allowed to drive to work every day.
What the … how’s that a thing? How can you legally drive without a license?
You are granted exemptions for certain things like driving to work. If you are found driving for any other purpose, the hammer (in theory) comes down on you.
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Ah understood - still not a right though, it is still a privilege for which you may be granted an exception in case you lose it.
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Hard to even imagine going out for a ride one day and waking up days later in the hospital. Best of thoughts to Derek and his family.
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For those local to NorCal, there is a group ride/raffle fundraiser. From Derek’s Mom:
UPDATE AND ANNOUNCING FUNDRAISER FOR DEREK TEEL
Derek’s Super Sunday Ride Feb. 11th @
7095 Douglas Blvd, Roseville Ca All Disciplines of riding.
Coffee & Donuts @ 9am
Raffle @ 9:30am
10am ride roll out
12pm ride concludes @dialedhealth Fundraiser with @mtb_norcal Thank you so much
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I think you might be taking things too literally.
When the bar is set so low that absolute morons pass the required tests on a daily basis, it’s not a privilege.
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And from my experience at least, it isn’t even “bad” compared to many other places. Even in really good places, in my experience, I have 1–3 close calls per year.
Wait, wut? How does that legally work?!?
So you can drive to work, to the grocery store, to a doctor’s appointment, just not on a vacation?
I heard that in the last few years, there has been an uptick of drunk driving in the US … ugh.
Unfortunately, even when drivers are caught in many countries they get off rather easily. In Germany, there was a big case where two morons with tuned cars decided to race in the city center. While the victim here was in a car, it had massive consequences for other cases, because the drivers appealed all the way up to the German Supreme Court — and lost. (Drivers who killed someone in a “race” would frequently be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.)
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Yes, it’s called a hardship license, when I was younger, I almost had to get one but luckily I had a good lawyer. It’s a long story and no it wasn’t from drinking and driving.
No, it is not that broad, and you have to make the case for why you need it.
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This seems broadly similar to the ‘exceptional hardship’ defence in the UK, i.e. that if you can demonstrate that losing your license would cause ‘exceptional hardship’ to you and/or your dependents, you can carry on driving for limited purposes under licence (excuse the pun). You essentially need to prove that it would be practically impossible for you to get to and from work without a car, or that it would be the same to get (say) a disabled dependent to and from necessary and regular medical appointments, kids to school, etc. Obviously this is much harder to prove if you live in a city with excellent public transportation (like London) than if you live in a 15 house village in the middle of nowhere.
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Thats about it, but much easier in the US, unless you’ve lost your license due to a medical condition, then you are 100% SOL.
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Add to that that on average, American are much more dependent on cars than people in e. g. Europe or many parts of Asia. I get that you don’t want people to lose their livelihood for a traffic infraction. However, when we are speaking of repeated DUIs or killing someone recklessly, that seems like a different kettle of fish. If you get to prison for your actions, that also essentially destroys your “normal” life (job, family, etc.).
The fact that it took until recently in Germany to differentiate between an unfortunate accident where someone gets killed by an honest mistake and two morons racing in the city center, reaching speeds in excess of 3x (!) the speed limit shows how far we still have to go as a society.
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That is not the type of people getting these exemptions….
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