save your money by driving a SUV hog

you cant be serious?!

I heard about this on the radio yesterday. Those damn hybrids just aren't using enough gas. They can also use the GPS locater to issue speeding tickets by seeing how much time it takes to get from point A to point B.

In Chicago we have an I-Pass that automatically deducts your toll from a prepaid account without having to stop at a toll booth. This unit also has a GPS locater in it and there are talks about the automatic speeding ticket. To encourage its use IL doubled the tolls for people who don't have an I-Pass. All this and the fact remains that the tolls were to be a temporary measure to pay for the roads. That was in the 50's.

The Illinois Tollway Commission was empowered to exist so long as the tollway's debt remained unpaid. Back in the '70s, I believe it was, a toll increase was instituted, then shortly thereafter was rolled back; it was determined the higher toll would retire the debt within a few years. The toll was adjusted to an amount which was calculated to be immune to such unacceptable performance. Additional safeguard was provided through the expedient of committin' to greatly expanded tollway construction. The Illinois Tollway Commission stands at no risk of eliminatin' itself - them big-salary/cushy, do-nothin' job folks ain't no fools, they're adept practitioners of the political patronage system.

Incidentally, as far as I know, the only state ever to retire a toll road and convert it to a free highway is Kentucky.

Connecticut did this to US I95 about 20 years ago.

I didn't know that, Acquiunk - thanks. At any rate, it ain't a real common practice.

While I'm against using this technology to tax people, I am for a sensible transportation and energy policy in this country.

How about we use the carrot (not the stick) to encourage driving less and using fuel-efficient cars? The tax break for hybrids is a start...

Agreed! Even with the federal tax break the cost of buying is excessive. I was playing around with this earlier today and compared the New Honda Accord LX V-6 Hybrid against an identical Accord LX V-6 and the cost difference is enough to pay for all of your gas in the non-hybrid for 6.7 years. The Federal tax incentive knocks that down to about 5 years but that's still pathetic and if you have to finance your car (most people can't come up with $30K in cash!) the length goes back up again.

Go for the hybrid and you'll break even just in time to trade it in. Very sad.

Well, how about telling businesses they can no longer get special depreciation rules for SUVs by treating them as trucks.

Or, maybe the European model? Increase the fuel tax, instead of a tax on miles?

fishin' is correct. I bought a Prius last year and got a $2000 tax break on my taxes. Nice, but probably not enough to cause a stampede toward these vehicles--or to encourage the US manufacturers to commit themselves to churning them out!

And I also agree with roger--why the depreciation for lawyers who drive SUVs? It's absurd...

tax by the miles sucks - thinking they'll put a GPS in my car to see the miles driven really sucks -

they caught a killer here by hiding a GPS tracker on his car, think what they can do when they have everyone ona GPS

I can see it - I work for XYZ tech firm - and live x miles away - they lay me off now I must drive further for a lower paying job to be paid even less and get taxed more to just get that job - or now I sell my house or better yet remain a renter my entire life so I can move around

to many social implications IMO

fuel-efficient cars and non-fuel-efficient cars have their own special interest groups and economy's that drive them

I can show you how to fool a gps unit really easy

How so?

Not sure what you mean. That there are lobbies for both? Sure. I side with the clean-air group. We also advocate less dependence on foreign oil.

What's the argument for the other position?

becoming less dependent (I'm for it) just screws up the vicious cycles we are in - it's the catch 22 thing



and farmerman we'll be wanting to screw with the GPS unless it's a federal offense

There are a number of relatively simple ways to mess with a GPS receiver - not all of which are necessarily illegal, though it is perfectly possible to use legal technology in an illegal manner. With the right equipment and a little know-how, its a simple matter to eavesdrop on cellular calls, for instance, and common household cordless phones are just about totally insecure - some of the more recent, more sophisticated phones are a little better, but a skilled and determined hacker can get in if the motivation is great enough. Wireless security systems. wireless in-home intercoms, and baby monitors, as well as many wireless webcams also broadcast "in clear" for the most part. In fact, most home wireless networks are set up by their users with weak or absolutely no security, and even many commercial wireless networks essentially are anywhere from wide open to merely behind flimsy safeguards.

Just to throw a tizzy at the Big Brother phobes, any powered-on cellphone can be located to within a few hundred yards, whether it is on a call or not. Mandated cellular system enhancements (Cellular 911) will bring that down to a few yards in the not very distant future. Many current cellphones already incorporate GPS technology; in conjunction with improved cellular location technology, position can be pinpointed to within a few inches.

And there is a growing sentiment among auto insurors toward encouraging (through rate discounts), if not requiring, GPS transponders on at the very least high-theft-risk vehicles. The growth of that particular technology in the nation's commercial fleet is astounding - tractor-trailer rigs to rental cars, shipping containers and rail cars to delivery vans. Its use is becoming widespread among the public service fleet too, and not by any means confined to emergency response vehicles - the Director of Streets and Sanitation very well may know exactly where Spud and Bubba's truck is, and just how long its been there.

Save gas and haul a** like a V8..... buy a Honda pickup. V6 that hauls and does 25/30 on gas.