[30874]

I'm sure the day will come

Big brother (all government enforcement) I'm sure is biting at the bit so to speak so they can have another weapon against us.

I'm just surprised as hell that the new Liter sport bikes are going on and on with no end in sight in higher horsepower and lower weight. I'm sure the day will be coming soon when some type of new law or higher and higher insurance premiums will put and end to it all.

Don’t get me wrong, I love performance motorcycles and those responsible enough to ride them correctly. It’s just that I see more and more new squids out there seeing how fast they can go and/or pulling crazy stunts in very inappropriate areas.

I can see the news report now... After Joe Smuck lost control of his Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha/Suzuki super sport bike he crashed into and killed 3 children playing in a rural schoolyard. Prosecutors downloaded information from his motorcycle indicating he was going 184 mph when he entered the 25-mph school zone, which is a rural road normally posted at 55 mph during non-school hours. To correct this trend of lawlessness new legislation has been put before congress to restrict all types of motorcycles to no more then 100 horsepower and limit top speed to 85 mph.

An on board computer will transmit any attempts to alter the performance of the new motorcycles and / or gross speeding to nearby police cars.

 

[35244]

You can bet your sweet ass the insurance industry will push for this. I work in the industry in a loss control management position. We already routinely push for GPS monitoring of all commercially owned vehicles. I have heard rumblings that business who reimburse employees for business use of personal vehicles are starting to consider GPS for vehicles they do not even own....

Moving the level of surviellance up to the next level by "black box" records review is coming...you can go to the bank with that prediction. I have a fuzzy memory of seeing a discussion of same in some insurance industry publication, but my "chitty chitty bang bang" memory fails, so no specific citation can be recalled. I'm already hearing it from the "school hall monitor" types that infest the insurance industry.

For those of you with more time than I have could do a GOOGLE News search and find that this has already happened here in the USA.

I plan to update my bike fleet prior to the next round of emissions tightening and also before the inevitable monitoring devices show up.

I normally pop a freakin gasket when I see political stuff here, especially liberal nonsense. However you all just might want to keep a very, very close eye on what your Reps vote for. When they infringe on personal liberty, "off with their elective heads". If you don't keep both eyes on the ball, we all lose...regardless of which side of the political aisle you plant your chubby rumps upon. Remember - vote early and often...and DO vote your personal interests! It matters.

For MORONS who can read (something other than motorcycle stuff), try puffing a bit fo Virginia Postrel. See Amazon. She will make both libs and conservs furious. Tells me she is onto something.

 

[33225]

How Paranoid Do You Need to Be?

Depending on your level of paranoia, he "authorities" may already know quite a bit about you and how you are driving. Here in Houston there are a network of sensors over the roads that are used to show average speed on all the roads. You can look at a website and see what the average speed is on all the roads around town. The maps also show the locations of accidents. (link here http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/incmap/ )Very useful to look at when planning your route home for the evenings commute. The system works using EZ tags (automatic toll road tags) that so many people have now. The system detects the location and time of a tag at one point, then if it sees that same car (tag) further down the road at some time later it can calculate average speed between the points. This system is not limited to toll roads, it is all over town. It doesn't take a huge leap to wonder if the "authorities" are using this system to trace the location of individual cars. Each tag is after all traceable to an individual through the credit card linked to the tag. All the pieces are in place. Can Big Brother really resist being able to know where we are at any given time?

 

[seruzawa]

How can anyone complain? This technology wil be extremely useful in discouraging behavior that might result in injury that in turn may result in the public having to pay the injured's medical costs.



It won't be difficult to add a coded GPS transponder much like that used for aircraft IFF. That way we can know where all motorists are at all times and in case of an accident an ambulance can be dispatched immediately.



It's a logical extension of seatbelt and helmet laws. Look how safe we all can be courtesy of the govt. Such power would never be abused.

 

[SparkyBlue]

Technology is a tool like any other; so there's always opportunity for abuse and excess. Nobody seems to mind it in big rigs. Many companies use it to know exactly where/what the drivers are doing.



There's a case involving a pro football player here in the Dallas area where they tried to get the black box data. The law didn't catch up soon enough so I think the data was old. Two people were killed on the freeway by a speeding hit/run driver. They were trying to help another driver who had crashed just moments before.



Some would argue the technology is an invasion of privacy. I don't mind it as long as it doesn't apply to ME.

 

[37352]

GPS transponders are already installed on many new cars - any car with an on-board navigation system or OnStar at the very least...

 

[Nplateau]

Fight the power! Fight big brother!



Fight the power! Fight the sensationalist media!



Fight the power! Fight the corporati!



Fight the power! Fight insurance companies!



Fight the power! Fight the oil companies!



Fight the power! Fight for our freedoms!



Fight the power! Ride a motorcycle!

 

[23063]

Bring it on.



I believe the general perception is that cars kill other people, but bikes only kill their owners. So, no one really cares about bikes.



I'm concerned about the opposite problem. If I get into an accident will any car drive stop and help me?

 

[SparkyBlue]

The end game has been predicted; a reference to technology I think.



He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.



Rev 13: 16-17

 

[kpaul]

Relax

First, this is in Canada. A country who citizens were granted "freedom" from the Queen. Yes the Queen is still on their money and does have a "palace" in Ontario. Canadians are different than Americans in that we, Americans, take our liberty more seriously i.e. look at gun laws in Canada. I think it has to do if you paid for your freedom in blood vs the Queen thing. The only thing Canadians seem to get upset about is hockey.

Second, motorcycles always lag behind cars in technology right. So you have a few more years of freedom.

Third, as Chuck Heston said, "you can have my gun when you pry it from cold dead hands" in this case I'll cut the wires on the sucker. I love my guns and I love my liberty. I no one better f_ck with my bike

But seriously, I don't like it this one bit. If Bush says he against the idea, I would vote for him. Hmm maybe not

 

[kpaul]

Re: How Paranoid Do You Need to Be?

Good point about the EZ tag, thing. Seattle area has had road sensors and web site thing for several years but we don't have any toll roads yet. I like toll roads in that you get people who use them to pay for them and quite frequently the roads are better maintained etc because of it. But the EZ tag you described makes me worry.

 

[pdad13]

667. The neighbor of the beast.











(Okay, okay. I stole that from somebody on the ZRXOA Web site. If I remembered his name, I'd give him due credit. Sorry.)

 

[4940]

You've got to love Virginia. I didn't realize she had any other fans at MO. VWW

 

[pdad13]

The idea of someone being able to "spy" on my driving/riding habits really bothers me. If you catch me doing something wrong, fine I'll take the heat. But this kind of thing opens up all sorts of undesireable scenarios.



But you make an interesting point about the perception that bikes only kill their owners causing a regulatory indifference to motorcycles. It'll be interesting to see if this holds water in the future.



It could help explain why there doesn't seem to be a serious movment towards banning today's super high performance bikes. We're quickly approaching the day of the 200 mph street bike. Let's see how this begins to play out.

 

[nokneedragin]

Well, we all applauded the use of the cars black box against Janklow (whats the follow up on that POS). Both his and this case involve a police investigation ito an accident. I don't have a problem with that. Now if a cop can pull me over and pluged into my bike (or cars) black box to see if I had been speeding I would object to that. Whats worse, with wireless LAN tech integrated into vehicles (its coming someday); my own vehicle could rat me out without my permission. A federal regulation would be all it took. Its the unknown dissemination of my private actions that get me a little spooked.

 

[nokneedragin]

my bike don't start?

The black boxes are integrated into the ignition systems and help the EFI computer adjust to the various engine loads. As such, just cutting the wire will not solve the problem.

However (and I am giving a business idea away for free) this does let some engineer type to make replacement black boxes that will encrypt the data, effectivly scrambling it, until the owner enters a password to keep it private.

Just pay for my MO subscriptions with the money you make ;-)

 

[33129]

You are innocent until proven guilty and the prosecution bears the responsibility of proving your guilt. You have the opportunity then to try to make it more difficult for the prosecution to prove the case against you through the actions of your elected officials. Since the general public elects those who write the laws and pay those who enforce them you, as a member of the motorcycling community, need to get used to the idea of increased loss of freedom. You have been, and will continue to be, in the minority. You tend to ride faster than is allowable. You are, therefore, prejudged to be guilty by your association with motorcycles. In this upcoming issue you have little defense and little hope of dodging the oncoming bullet. You better join the AMA if you harbor any hopes of a defense. You saw Janklow's results. If you do, you can turn the above "you"s into "we"s. Please do. We need your help.

 

[sarnali]

any car with OBD2 diagnostic's already has this feature, engine speed and speedometer readings are recorded and stored. as well as ABS activation and air-bag deployment.

Big brother has been here and gone while we were asleep.

 

[SparkyBlue]

Lots of good posts here. I dislike politics but see it as our only path to keep our freedom and privacy. Otherwise it could be "Give me liberty or give me death" and we've done that already.

 

[mps165]

I could care less if they but a box in and what the outcome is. If I get into an accident there is a high probability that I will be severly hurt or dead, so who cares. Moot conversation really.