GPS to track miles traveled

Heres the way we'll cover the holes left by the TIA. Just not enough people using EZpass I guess!

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http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=54184

The Road User Fee Task Force set up by the 2001 Legislature plans to ask the 2003 session to authorize testing the feasibility of a vehicle mileage tax.

Oregon was the first state to adopt a gas tax, in 1919, and could become the first to collect road fees via space technology.

“Technology has improved to the degree that this can be done, with an electronic device,” he said. The device, in a car, would be linked to the Global Positioning Satellite or GPS system, which allows pinpoint navigation by bouncing signals off satellites.

To protect drivers’ privacy, using the system to track cars in real time would be illegal. New cars would be required to have the GPS technology. Owners of older cars would be allowed to take part by retrofitting them.

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Ive been amusing myself writing a tech/sci-fi novel. for my story i made this up...but dammme here it is.

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=233188


"All vehicles are equipped with GPS tracking devices and radio frequency transponders designed for the same purpose. Vehicles will not operate without these devices in place. Any attempt to bypass these devices is a crime that receives a most severe punishment and random roadblocks are setup to insure the deployment of them."

this **** is really beginning to scare me

Ok, who in there right mind would even think of implementing this? The cost alone would be enough to vote nay. Retrofitting every car in the us would be in the upper billions, maybe trillions. Random road blocks would be an uber-hassle, especially for all of the road trips I go on. BTW, Road User Fee Task Force is a stupid name.

I recently moved to Oregon (Portland) and I have followed the above with modest interest. My question becomes why not create toll roads to pay for rd maitantaince. It is my understanding that it is currently illeagal in Oregon for roads to be tolled. But I think it would be cheaper to implement that solution (change the law) then a road usage tax.

Cheers,
-D

well Hertz Rental Car is already doing this with their fleet of cars to verify the milage that you put on them, and that you did or didn't travel out of state. It's something that I don't agree with and it is also something that I won't take part in... I loved this part:

Quote:

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Owners of older cars would be allowed to take part by retrofitting them.

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There is no way that I'll retro fit any of my cars to this. As a matter of fact I may just continue to buy 60's/early 70's cars just to avoid this ;)



As an aside to this, a few years ago, I along with some good friends of mine, found a really nice island. It was 900+ acres. Had it's own freshwater source. Had a banana farm and cows already on it. Also had 3 3000+ sq ft houses on it. We all talked about pooling our money together and getting this island. It was one of the few freeehold islands out there and we would be autonomous (answering to no gov't). We all just sat around with a great idea and never moved on it. Of course the island has been sold, but now I'm starting to kick myself in the ass when I see stuff like this coming out by our gov't. sigh.


El Diablo

putting up toll booths on all roads, because were talking miles traveled not just miles on major highways, would be a tremendous expense. while demanding GPS units be installed on all new cars would put the expense on those that buy the cars. i imagine there would be a grace period before older cars had to be retro-fitted, again the burden of cost would be on the owner of the car. GPS services would be included in the road tax.

For big brother to know where you are with EZpass you must opt (for now) to have an ezpass transponder in your car and be on a road that has tracking devices in place. again an outragous amount of money to get all roads covered and everyone dosn't opt to use EZpass.

for those that don't know EZpass 'listeners' are placed on all major roads not only at toll booths as part of the ITS (intelligent transportation system), supposedly to monitor road conditions and traffic flow.

even for the non-paranoid GPS monitoring is still an outrage. with EZpass it was also promised that the individuals privacy would be protected and signals would be encrypted so they could not be read. but every one who has gotten a speeding ticket for getting from point a to point b too fast can testify that this is not the case. EZpass info is also a part of the TIA's database.

the next thing to come IMO, will be scannable money. of course this will be to prevent laundering and extortion or detect large purchases with unaccountable money by terrorists...right!

I swear to God I would move to another country if something like this ever happened!!! Not that it's terribly likely right away, but as I've said before, and as the above posts have pointed out, it's just a game of 'incrementalism'. Big brother is leading us along....like lambs to slaughter. And...for most of the population, this suites them just fine. "What do we know??" "The government wouldn't lead us astray." "A-huh...a-huh...a-huh" :::heavy sarcasm:::

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Originally posted here by Tedob1

“Technology has improved to the degree that this can be done, with an electronic device,” he said. The device, in a car, would be linked to the Global Positioning Satellite or GPS system, which allows pinpoint navigation by bouncing signals off satellites.

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Well, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stead in the report for a start - GPS' work by bouncing signals off satellites??????? WTF kind of moron reporter wrote that....<s> One that didn't do any investigation - clearly!!!!

GPS' work by receiving signals from multiple satellites and calculating the position of the antenna, (the antenna can be remotely situated from the GPS itself). This makes it a passive system which is perfect for the military functions for which it has been created. Imagine an active system like the silly reporter suggests - You fire off your 2 million dollar cruise missile that streaks along at a few feet over the treetops below the enemy radar while all the time it is advertising itself by keep interrogating the satellites to find out where it is - all the while the targetted enemy is tracking it by intercepting the interrogation requests and finally fires a missile to intercept the source of the transmissions..... Oooooops, no more 2 mill....<s>

IMO this is another "pie in the sky" politicians way of trying to up the revenue they can squeeze out of us poor saps. Remember the IRS was going to spend 5 billion to install a computer system to help them catch the tax evaders. When asked how much per year they figured they could find with the new system they claimed it would increase revenue by 20 mill per year. So - let's say the system stays functional for 20 years - wow, that's 4 billion dollars in additional revenue...... Oh, but hang on, the system cost 5 bill so we are still a bill out of pocket - luckily even the dumb politicians saw this was a mistake......

You all ready pay a road use tax.

Every gallon of gas you buy has taxes for road use. Even if you buy the gas for your lawn mower!

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Well, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stead in the report for a start - GPS' work by bouncing signals off satellites??????? WTF kind of moron reporter wrote that....<s> One that didn't do any investigation - clearly!!!!
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That moron was none other than Jim Whitty, the task force administrator. He's not supposed to know....he's a politician :]

ROFL...... That explains a few things right there....... :D

This would also open up the possibility that insurance premiums could be determined by the number of miles that were driven that month and the types of roads that a person was driving on such as suburban roads vs rural roads. I am really tired of people dreaming up more and more was to make billings and charges more complicated and my life more of a pain in the ass. Technology rather than making our lives easier at every step seems to be making it more of a rat race.

Actually, that might be a fairer way to assess insurance premiums.

When i lived in the city (Boston, MA), the insurance co's assessed collision and liability risks by where a car was garaged. I didn't use my car for commuting, just weekend getaways. I was charged for all those people who drove in every day from the burbs and had their accidents in my zip code.