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Many jurisdictions have criminal penalties depending on severity of recklessness. For example, in California in collisions that resulted in death of someone oth

Many jurisdictions have criminal penalties depending on severity of recklessness. For example, in California in collisions that resulted in death of someone other than the driver responsible can result in charges all the way to vehicular homoside/murder for repeat DUI offenders. Lesser charges are available to fit less degrees of wrecklessness. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide While driving in LA, I see a lot of people doing stupid things in cars, but I don't personally think turning to public shaming is the answer (mostly because I don't think it'll work - person is already reckless and doesn't think what he/she is doing is wrong). Human element is deeply flawed, so augmenting this element with safety tech is a better answer. With the current sensor tech, there really is no reason a car should be able to rearend another car! Volvo, Audi and Infinit already sell models that have been tested at low to moderate speeds to be able either prevent a crash or reduce it to a small tap: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/front-crash-prevention-tests http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/front-crash-pr... Such tech ought to be required by law to be standard. No excuse that it's still isn't.

akgerber 10y ago
Shaming is ineffective. But suspension of the driving privilege should be a more widely-used tool, as should automated traffic enforcement— especially with regards to speeds in urban areas.
- sologoub 10y ago
  From personal experience, the automated enforcement is tricky - speed cameras are common in Moscow suburbs. The owner of the vehicle is cited under current regs, which is annoying but since there is no point system like in US, it's not as big of a problem. Imagine if your license could be suspended if someone from your household drove your car? You need ways to positively ID the driver, but that creates other privacy problems...
  - jakobegger 10y ago
    in Austria most speed cameras take a picture of the car from the front, so you can see who drove the car. (Fun fact: the cameras taking pictures from the front were added because the German police refused to enforce speeding tickets on Austrian highways if the driver could not be identified)
    - sologoub 10y ago
      How do they match the driver? Does it use driver license photos or some other database to match these?
      - jakobegger 10y ago
        If you don't speed much, they don't. The owner of the registration (license plate) gets an "anonymous ticket" and as long as you pay, they don't bother identifying the driver. If you don't pay, or if you drive significantly faster than allowed, the police starts an investigation to determine the driver, which starts by sending a form letter to the owner of the registration, asking them who drove the car. As far as I know it's a manual process, and I'm not sure the photo is actually used; the photo is mainly just proof in case people claim it wasn't them.
ploxiln 10y ago
You can try to save people from themselves, but it's never quite as effective as you expect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_47utWAoupo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_47utWAoupo Imagine the ridiculous driving when people "know their car will stop before a crash anyway". Yeah, more people will be saved overall... but there will be a lot of "funny" results too. Personally, I'd rather have strict penalties than being forced to do the equivalent of trading a linux laptop for an iPad Pro just so I can't hurt myself or anyone else. (I drive a stick shift of course, and can turn off traction control :)
- sologoub 10y ago
  I've driven stick for 10 years and absolutely share your concerns, but the fun to drive and control can coexist. Being able to turn off stuff for off-road use makes sense, but I'd rather have a choice, whereas right now my choice is extremely limited - XC90, Q7 or QX60... Nothing remotely fun.

akgerber 10y ago

Shaming is ineffective. But suspension of the driving privilege should be a more widely-used tool, as should automated traffic enforcement— especially with regards to speeds in urban areas.

sologoub 10y ago
From personal experience, the automated enforcement is tricky - speed cameras are common in Moscow suburbs. The owner of the vehicle is cited under current regs, which is annoying but since there is no point system like in US, it's not as big of a problem. Imagine if your license could be suspended if someone from your household drove your car? You need ways to positively ID the driver, but that creates other privacy problems...
- jakobegger 10y ago
  in Austria most speed cameras take a picture of the car from the front, so you can see who drove the car. (Fun fact: the cameras taking pictures from the front were added because the German police refused to enforce speeding tickets on Austrian highways if the driver could not be identified)
  - sologoub 10y ago
    How do they match the driver? Does it use driver license photos or some other database to match these?
    - jakobegger 10y ago
      If you don't speed much, they don't. The owner of the registration (license plate) gets an "anonymous ticket" and as long as you pay, they don't bother identifying the driver. If you don't pay, or if you drive significantly faster than allowed, the police starts an investigation to determine the driver, which starts by sending a form letter to the owner of the registration, asking them who drove the car. As far as I know it's a manual process, and I'm not sure the photo is actually used; the photo is mainly just proof in case people claim it wasn't them.

ploxiln 10y ago

You can try to save people from themselves, but it's never quite as effective as you expect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_47utWAoupo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_47utWAoupo Imagine the ridiculous driving when people "know their car will stop before a crash anyway". Yeah, more people will be saved overall... but there will be a lot of "funny" results too. Personally, I'd rather have strict penalties than being forced to do the equivalent of trading a linux laptop for an iPad Pro just so I can't hurt myself or anyone else. (I drive a stick shift of course, and can turn off traction control :)

sologoub 10y ago
I've driven stick for 10 years and absolutely share your concerns, but the fun to drive and control can coexist. Being able to turn off stuff for off-road use makes sense, but I'd rather have a choice, whereas right now my choice is extremely limited - XC90, Q7 or QX60... Nothing remotely fun.