TheAgitator.com
MADD Exec to Head Up Federal Highway Safety Administration
Monday, April 20th, 2009President Obama has nominated Mothers Against Drunk Driving CEO Chuck Hurley to head up the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Hurley is a lifelong anti-alcohol activist. MADD’s top priority during his stint as CEO was to get states to pass a law mandating ignition interlock devices in the cars of all first-time DWI offenders. The device requires you to blow into a tube before starting your car, then blow again at set intervals as you’re driving. Under Hurley’s watch, MADD also gave a “qualified endorsement” for bills in the New York and New Mexico legislatures that would have required the devices in all cars sold in those states.
Hurley and MADD have a long history of manipulating data to support their policy initiatives. Last year, for example, I explained how a MADD report looking at DWI fatality statistics miraculously came to the conclusion that the numbers in each state–whether up, down, or unchanged–spoke to the urgent need to adopt MADD’s ignition interlock law. Hurley and MADD were at the heart of the effort to force the states to adopt the .08 minimum blood alcohol standard under penalty of withdrawing federal highway funds, and weren’t at all afraid to invoke dubious statistics to push their position. Hurley has aggressively pushed for the use of constitutionally-questionable roadblock sobriety checkpoints to enforce the new standard, even though there’s now good reason to believe the use of roadblocks have actually made the roads more dangerous. Don’t be at all surprised to see Hurley use his position at NHTSA to push for a federal interlock law as well. MADD’s goals are now NHTSA’s.
But Hurley isn’t just a zealot on alcohol. His default position seems to be in favor of more highway safety laws, more regulations, and more reasons to stop and fine motorists. Hurley has pushed states to adopt primary seat belt laws, which in addition to being a questionable use of law enforcement resources (people who don’t wear seat belts aren’t a threat to anyone other than themselves), have been criticized in some quarters for giving police officers another tool to engage in racial profiling, or as a pretext stop in asset forfeiture cases. Hurley has also supported the proliferation of red light cameras, despite studies showing they actually cause more accidents than they prevent.
At the Detroit Free Press, longtime automotive writer Eric Peters lays out what Hurley’s NHTSA agenda might look like:
…drivers can expect a ratcheting up of the low-grade harassment they already endure on a daily basis—in the form of more obnoxious regulations, pullover “safety” checks and very possibly lowered speed limits…
The legal standard for “drunk” driving has already been lowered to .08 BAC—a level well below the .10 and up level at which people have actual accidents as opposed to running afoul of “sobriety checkpoints.”
But even that isn’t enough. Under Hurley, MADD has been pushing to have the legal threshold reduced to .04 BAC, which would turn anyone who had a glass of wine over dinner into a “drunk driver” as far as the law was concerned—and subject them to penalties more severe than those applied to many violent felons…
As NHTSA head, expect him to push MADD’s current agenda as far as he can—including mandatory in-car alcohol detectors for everyone, not just those already convicted of DWI. And controversial “sobriety checkpoints” that stop random cars and subject their drivers to Gestapo-like stop and frisks are likely to sprout up in irban and suburban areas across the country.
AdvertisementAt the National Safety Council, Hurley campaigned for mandatory air bags and “primary enforcement” seat belt laws on the public, which ironically diverted state and local law enforcement away from catching drunk and reckless drivers and turned them into ubiquitous snoops of the nanny state.
Mandatory air bags—which add thousands of dollars to the price/lifetime ownership costs of every new car—have arguably helped undermine the car industry by making new cars much more expensive and thus less affordable to consumers as well as less profitable to sell.
As head of NHTSA, Hurley will wield immense power. Obama administration insiders expect he will order states and cities to install thousands of new photo radar and red light cameras, and to make a major push for a “pay as you go” driving tax—with mandatory GPS transponders for every vehicle, so Uncle Sam can keep track of where, when and how much you drive—and send you a bill accordingly.
That’s change you can believe in. Let the good times roll!
It may seem counter-intuitive, but I think this would be a good thing. The more the government clamps down on stupid things, the more likley the semi-authoritarian people in this country will start to see how stupid it is and cause change. There’s not enough people effected at this point.
Make enough people angry and you get change. Maybe.
I’m with Ben. Some regulation is necessary, but its so easy for government to over-reach, and trigger a back-lash. More tea parties?
Nothing bad can come of this people.
Nothing to see here move along.
Ben it is affected.
Sorry but more namby-pamby liberal bullshit from “the savior”.
God I hate those MADD fu@ks as well. They did a fantastic job getting the word out about drunk driving and even reducing incidents of drunk driving but with their original purpose essentially fuifilled they now are a business that needs power and income. And will use draconian measures to get it
Todd,anyone who has one drink is a drunk driver.Just as anyone who smokes pot once is a addict.Of course anyone who has guns,is a veteran or wants limited government is a terrorist.
I guess there is a silver lining. If more cops are out trying to harass drivers and issuing fines, then there are less cops trying to bust down your door in the middle of the night and shooting your dog.
Actually, with more cops out there harassing drivers and issuing fines, there’s even more money in the pot for busting down doors and shooting dogs and people. There’s no way traffic cops don’t steal several times their salary in fines.
I saw this article over at RIDL earlier. Jeanne Pruett pointed out this jewel of a comment from Eric Peters:
” As the head gauleiter of MADD since March 2005, Hurley the led the group — already considered one of the most unreasonable and totalitarian-minded “special interests” in all of D.C. to even new vistas of reactionary Puritanism.”
gau·lei·ter [gou-lahy-ter]
–noun
the leader or chief official of a political district under Nazi control.
With any luck, Hurley’s fucked up his taxes.
You have to understand how Americans think. There are two sides to every issue. That’s just the way it is. Obama knows this.
There is MADD and then there are those who drink and drive.
Wow, Obama is working out GREAT for America!
With any luck, Hurley’s fucked up his taxes.
We’ve already seen with Geithner that taxes probably don’t matter.
We’ve already seen with Geithner that taxes probably don’t matter.
Oh, right…
OK, well I’ve got my fingers crossed for soliciting sex from a 12 year old boy and hiring an illegal alien to drive them across state lines. Or something.
Or someone could just mail some weed to his house…
No, nothing so complex as back taxes or soliciting sex is needed. A simple DUI arrest by DC cops all-too-eager to detain anyone with a BAC of .00 will be sufficient.
I think some folk’s are misinterpreting Ben’s point. That is, while the new regs themselves are ridiculous, perhaps they will have the positive (unintended) effect of finally pushing things to the tipping point, where people finally get fed up and a pushback campaign emerges.
This may be hopeless optimism or wishful thinking, but perhaps people will finally wise up to how absurd things have gotten if it really starts to inconvenience them.
if you’ve got your own private road, on your own private land, you can still drink as much as you want and drive as fast as you like, no?
Paul
Actually, I believe there have been cases where people have been arrested for DUI while sleeping in a turned off vehicle in their own driveway.
And Radley featured a story about a guy that was arrested for riding his bike in his front yard while drinking. He was apparently just moving it from the front to the garage, IIRC.
As Radley has stated before, MADD is pushing a modern temperance movement. Between MADD, the second hand smoke bullshitters, and every other nanny state do-gooder, I still don’t understand why so many people are hopeful for the decriminalization of marijuana.
Can anyone give me a convincing argument that drug prohibition might end despite all the examples of moral crusaders who attack freedom? I’m not trying to be a dick, I really want to hear something that might make me believe we’ll get some freedom back from authorities.
B, is your handle an allusion to The Story of B?
I guess there is a silver lining. If more cops are out trying to harass drivers and issuing fines, then there are less cops trying to bust down your door in the middle of the night and shooting your dog.
With more cops generating more revenue (read: theft) derived from issuing citations, there will be more monies to hire more cops to either generate more revenue or bust down your doors/shooting your dog or just to exert more control over the populace at every turn.
It’s nigh about time for a revolution. To bathe in the blood of tyrants. The tyrants have been bathing in the blood of peasants for quite long enough.
B, is your handle an allusion to The Story of B?
Ha, no. Just my first initial.
Looks like an interesting read, though…
Looks like an interesting read, though…
Daniel Quinn will blow your mind. Everything he has done is amazing.
when do we get some good change?
If there are manditory interlocks on 100% of cars, does that mean that there will be no more sobriety checkpoints? What about DUI citations? What will happen to all the revenue generated from court costs, fines, etc. when all that goes away? Oh, I know, they’ll just start cracking down on something else.
I, for one, will never have an interlock on my car. I will stop driving before having one. The same goes for the pay-as-you-go taxes. I will ride a bicycle and I will not register it.
What happens if you have an interlock on your car and you’re driving on the interstate at 70 or 80 and you forget to blow into the tube at the set interval? Does the car stop running?
The ignition interlocks, licensed from the state, will require 25 cents to operate.
Back in the mid-1970′s, the Do-Gooders at the NHTSA and Consumer Product Safety Commission (Joan Claybrook) Nanny State mandated SEAT-BELT STARTER INTERLOCK SYSTEMS in all new cars sold in the U.S.
In order to START your car, you had to FIRST fasten your seat belt. If the gizmo malfunctioned, your car wouldn’t start. If a briefcase or sack of groceries was sitting in the passenger side or passenger seat, it too would need to be buckled in, or your car would not start.
BUCKLING UP WAS MANDATORY BEFORE THE ENGINE WOULD EVEN START.
After a couple of years, there was such a groundswell of driver outrage, that the Nanny State temporarily backed-down, and ended mandatory installation of the Seat-Belt Starter Interlock System as mandatory factory equipment.
News You Can Use:
It’s Coming Back. You’ll have to periodically huff into a tube to keep driving your car.
I survived the interlock ordeal. It was a daily nightmare. The device doesn’t check you for “legal limits.” It checks for the presence of ANY alcohol. It will fail you for mouthwash and a host of other things things that have no alcohol content. Despite it’s inaccuracy, it’s a smart little fucker. It date/time stamps every failed test. Once a month it is downloaded, printed and sent to the DMV. After so many fails, you’re out.
Oh, and how safe is it to have to blow on the interstate in heavy traffic at 65+ MPH? Where are your stats on that, MADD?
#24 Euler
No you car doesn’ stop running. Your horn beeps until you pass a test or shut the car off yourself. This ofcourse will be reported as mentioned above.
#1 and #2, I wish I shared your optimism, but I know far too many loud group-think types who ridicule such “backlash” as a few troublemakers who just want to drink and drive. “If you haven’t done anythign wrong, why are you worried? It’s just a few minutes at the checkpoint. They’re trying to keep you SAFE. It’s just a quick puff on the machine. It’s just tracking your mileage.” Because all the little programs never cause any kind of interruption in our daily pursuit of happiness, right? Argh.
So if freedom is going to die from a thousand small cuts, this would be what? 990?
Freedom is already dead, but government is propping it up, trying to make it look like everyone is still having a good time before the stink gets unbearable.
“So if freedom is going to die from a thousand small cuts, this would be what? 990?”
Freedom didn’t die from a thousand small cuts. Freedom died in one fell swoop when the people in the government realized they could act as though they owned every last one of us and get away with it.
The thousand cuts are merely symptoms of the current masters acting upon that realization.
Remember when Obama was going to free science from politics? Appointing Hurley is the exact opposite of what we thought was going to happen.
When do the cans of “clean” beat-the-test fake breath go on sale? You take this test w/o a cop watching.
What, you thought the “change” was going to be a positive balance?
This also makes wonder why we would want the government to regulate marijuana like it does with alcohol. Sounds like substituting one type of doom for another doom.
Disable the interlock. Easily done.
Disable the horn. Install a different horn. Easily done.
Like to see them install an interlock on my ’91 and ’87 trucks.
I’d do the same thing with their goddamn GPS thingamajig too. Disable that motherfucker as well. When the cop pulls my ass over he better be ready for a fight.
I just realized…this is part of the “stimulus” for the auto industry. Everyone will rush to buy cars before the interlock becomes mandatory!
See, Obama really does think everything he does is “stimulus”…
I also heard Obama just appointed Dick Cheney to head an anti-torture commission.
@Cappy: Yeah, he’ll be ready for a fight. They thirst for confrontation. It’s what makes a cop’s job interesting.
Time for an enterprising entrepreneur to start selling alcohol free exhalation in a can. Or a driver can just exhale into a plastic bag when he’s sober and keep it warm enough to fool the machine. However, then the Morons in Charge will want blood. Which makes the accusation of them being vampires less like rhetoric and more like prophecy.
[...] Radley Balko, over at The Agitator blog, tells us some background and a little of what we can expect from Hurley, if he ends up being accepted for the position. [...]
[...] Bad move: President Obama has nominated Mothers Against Drunk Driving CEO Chuck Hurley to head up the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. [...]
[...] MADD is now running the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Look for mandatory ignition locks and more checkpoints in the coming years. [...]
What Hurley wants installed on cars is not the standard interlock system where you blow in a tube. He wants a passive system that will test the alcohol in the system through the palms of your hands. The technology is already out there.
Nobody will EVER put a gps in my car, nor a breathalizer. I’ll rip that shit out before I even put gas in the tank.
21st amendment.
“The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. ”
Funny, but the 18th included this language
“Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
So, where do they get the authority to even propose this kind of garbage? The congress didn’t have the authority to outlaw importation, sale, transportation BEFORE, and once repealed, AFTER. That damn well applies to folks ACTING like a legislative body!
One of the reasons why I drive older vehicles is that in newer vehicles (98ish I believe) the government mandated OBDII computer has the ability to store data which can then be retrieved to be used against you in court. Of course if you’ve got the onstar nanny it can be activated without your knowledge to eavesdrop on your in-vehicle conversation or be used to track you.
I guess it gives me one more reason to rebuild older vehicles and use them. I screw the state over by not giving them more money through yearly personal property taxes and higher vehicle license fees. I also get much cheaper insurance.
I figure eventually they’ll figure out a way to ban or so heavily tax older vehicles that one can’t afford to drive them or you’ll be simply be prohibited from owning one. You’ll either drive a state certified and approved proletariat conveyance device or you won’t drive at all. I guess in that case I drag the old wagon out of the back of the barn and start using horses.
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