The Road User Charge by Any Other Name: NMA E-Newsletter #555
We recently completed a series of newsletters (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) about the renewed calls for levying a set of surcharges–or thinly disguised taxes–on motorists to help rescue the Federal Highway Trust Fund. National calls are picking up in momentum for the implementation of a system of travel fees layered on top […]
Are We Slinking Ever Closer to a Universal Road User Charge? Part 1—the National Landscape: NMA E-Newsletter #549
A road user charge or RUC (also referred to as the Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax or VMT Tax and Mileage Based User Fees or MBUF) currently permeates nearly every discussion of how our country will pay for infrastructure in the future. Many transportation planners and elected officials seem to agree the time has come to […]
Where’s Our Cut from Data Mining of our Cars?
You’ve probably seen people driving around in cars covered over or “wrapped” with advertisements for some service or product and wondered how much the owner got paid to allow his car to be transformed into a mobile billboard. But he is at least getting paid. The non-wrapped cars are working, too but their owners aren’t being […]
4 Technologies That Support Safe Driving
When you think about technology in your car, you probably think about your infotainment system, the car’s stereo, and maybe the navigation system. But there are actually quite a few new technologies that you can use while you’re driving to make spending time on the road safer. Everything from modern camera systems integrated into the […]
So Much Auto Tech News—So Little Time April 28, 2019 Edition
Auto Technology seems to be moving at the speed of light and then sometimes it isn’t. Here are a few insights from the past several weeks in the world of Auto Tech. Satellite Cars An opinion piece from Satellite Today suggests that connecting driverless cars is a bit more complicated than first realized. The author […]
Advantages and Disadvantages of GPS and Telematics Systems for Vehicles
Over the last few decades, there has been a massive reduction in vehicle theft resulting from increased law enforcement efforts and built-in anti-theft measures. However, the number of stolen vehicles increased sharply in 2016, worsened by a spree of tech-savvy thieves exploiting keyless entry systems. Unfortunately, criminals will continue to develop high-tech methods to bypass […]
Are you being spied on? 3 reasons why motorists should care
After Edward Snowden leaked NSA documents in 2013, a majority of the public suddenly became aware of how far governments were willing to go in a bid to spy on their citizens in the name of national security. Seven years down the line, nothing much has changed. If anything, modes and methods of spying have […]
NMA Principle Number 4: Freedom from Invasive Surveillance
The Driving in America Blog was started a year ago to bring more information to those who are beginning their journey as motorists’ rights advocates. Over the next several months, I will be working with each of the seven NMA principles to give readers of this weekly blog some idea of what we all are working towards […]
Parenting for Profit
Cars are supposed to transport us — not parent us. The government disagrees, of course. That’s not new. Uncle has been working hard to parent grown adults since at least the 1960s, when it first got into the saaaafety business. Which of course is really the control business — and that business is as old […]
The Carrot and the Stick Approach to Vehicle Tracking: What’s wrong with congestion pricing and Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax Schemes?
This article first appeared in the NMA Foundation quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms Winter 2016 edition. Smart Growth supporters claim their transportation fixes will reduce congestion and lead to more accessible roads for all users. In practice, the opposite may be true. In the winter 2015 Driving Freedoms, a California NMA member described how congestion and […]