3 ms·

If they're looking to improve tire energy efficiency with regulation, shouldn't they also make it a citable offense to drive with tires inflated below 30psi? Yo

If they're looking to improve tire energy efficiency with regulation, shouldn't they also make it a citable offense to drive with tires inflated below 30psi? You could probably even train a ML algorithm to recognize images of vehicles with underinflated tires, and send the driver a reminder!

cucumber3732842 2mo ago
Then people will drive around with them at 60psi (i.e. doable but not great for a car tire) and wonder why they keep breaking belts.
- kazinator 2mo ago
  Because that could not also be a citable offense?
  - cucumber3732842 2mo ago
    We could also make cooking up hair brained schemes to regulate minutia a citable offense.
    - kazinator 2mo ago
      I would argue that someone driving around with 60 psi in tires that are supposed to be 33 is a smidgeon more than minutiae, since there is a real risk.
mikestorrent 2mo ago
Doesn't TPMS take care of that? Though, it seems like it's being done in software now to save costs...
Spooky23 2mo ago
That’s probably sooner than you think. DOTs are intercepting trucks with drones and measuring wheel temperatures and other metrics to do targeted enforcement rather than pulling over every truck. There’s also pilots of road sensors that can weigh trucks and perhaps other metrics.
- cucumber3732842 2mo ago
  Which really is just a revenue game but one with a good eough pretext you can sell it to average dumbass voter. All the "serious" overloading is non-CDL box trucks anyway and has been forever. The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided.
  - nomel 2mo ago
    > The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided. How are they easily gamed, without being able to shift the load as you roll over the scale? And, at least in California, the scales are placed so that, to avoid them, you have to add a bunch of time to most routes.
    - malfist 2mo ago
      You shift your route. Not the load
      - nomel 2mo ago
        > The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided. Yes, they stated that in the second half, and I addressed it. What's the first half?
        cucumber3732842 2mo ago
        Most scales don't even log/alert/flag weights below the maximum legal axle weight or axle group weight. So a 2-axle truck can weigh 40k and nobody will hear about it. In the event that they're fancy and integrated with an ALPR (assuming your plate is readable, lots of ways to game that on a box truck) the scales don't typically extend onto the paved shoulder. Even if they do you slow down and drop a tire off the pavement. And if all that fails, if you have air suspension you can dump the axle as the truck is going over the scale.
        nomel 2mo ago
lokar 2mo ago
We are part way there, gas stations are required to provide free air and a gauge to customers buying gas.
- VorpalWay 2mo ago
  As a Scandinavian that sounds normal, and has been my entire life. In fact you don't need to buy gas to use the free air or water, it is just out in the open in a service cabinet or on the side of the building. (There is sometimes a sign that the water is only for cleaning your windows / mixing windshield fluid from concentrate, not for filling up RVs, and the flow is very slow.) I'm curious, do they actually check that you buy gas in the US before letting you get those services?
  - singron 2mo ago
    Free air is very common these days. I don't think a purchase has ever been required for free air anywhere I've been. Occasionally you need to go in and get a free token since the air machine is still coin operated, but I've never been asked to prove a purchase.
    - lokar 2mo ago
      The one near my house has a card reader :(
  - WarmWash 2mo ago
    We have some free air stations in the US around me, but they are rare, and people absolutely beat the shit of them. Half the time they're broken :(

cucumber3732842 2mo ago

Then people will drive around with them at 60psi (i.e. doable but not great for a car tire) and wonder why they keep breaking belts.

kazinator 2mo ago
Because that could not also be a citable offense?
- cucumber3732842 2mo ago
  We could also make cooking up hair brained schemes to regulate minutia a citable offense.
  - kazinator 2mo ago
    I would argue that someone driving around with 60 psi in tires that are supposed to be 33 is a smidgeon more than minutiae, since there is a real risk.

mikestorrent 2mo ago

Doesn't TPMS take care of that? Though, it seems like it's being done in software now to save costs...

Spooky23 2mo ago

That’s probably sooner than you think. DOTs are intercepting trucks with drones and measuring wheel temperatures and other metrics to do targeted enforcement rather than pulling over every truck. There’s also pilots of road sensors that can weigh trucks and perhaps other metrics.

cucumber3732842 2mo ago
Which really is just a revenue game but one with a good eough pretext you can sell it to average dumbass voter. All the "serious" overloading is non-CDL box trucks anyway and has been forever. The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided.
- nomel 2mo ago
  > The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided. How are they easily gamed, without being able to shift the load as you roll over the scale? And, at least in California, the scales are placed so that, to avoid them, you have to add a bunch of time to most routes.
  - malfist 2mo ago
    You shift your route. Not the load
    - nomel 2mo ago
      > The road scales are easily gamed, or just avoided. Yes, they stated that in the second half, and I addressed it. What's the first half?
      - cucumber3732842 2mo ago
        Most scales don't even log/alert/flag weights below the maximum legal axle weight or axle group weight. So a 2-axle truck can weigh 40k and nobody will hear about it. In the event that they're fancy and integrated with an ALPR (assuming your plate is readable, lots of ways to game that on a box truck) the scales don't typically extend onto the paved shoulder. Even if they do you slow down and drop a tire off the pavement. And if all that fails, if you have air suspension you can dump the axle as the truck is going over the scale.
        nomel 2mo ago

lokar 2mo ago

We are part way there, gas stations are required to provide free air and a gauge to customers buying gas.

VorpalWay 2mo ago
As a Scandinavian that sounds normal, and has been my entire life. In fact you don't need to buy gas to use the free air or water, it is just out in the open in a service cabinet or on the side of the building. (There is sometimes a sign that the water is only for cleaning your windows / mixing windshield fluid from concentrate, not for filling up RVs, and the flow is very slow.) I'm curious, do they actually check that you buy gas in the US before letting you get those services?
- singron 2mo ago
  Free air is very common these days. I don't think a purchase has ever been required for free air anywhere I've been. Occasionally you need to go in and get a free token since the air machine is still coin operated, but I've never been asked to prove a purchase.
  - lokar 2mo ago
    The one near my house has a card reader :(
- WarmWash 2mo ago
  We have some free air stations in the US around me, but they are rare, and people absolutely beat the shit of them. Half the time they're broken :(