FMCSA’s Strategic Plan

Posted on May 13, 2012 
Filed Under GENERAL, POLITICS

The FMCSA released its five year strategic plan this week. In it, they reiterated their goal to achieve zero CMV accidents at some point in the future.

I have said again and again, the elimination of all CMV accidents is not only an unrealistic goal, it is an extremely undesirable one as well. If I took over the country, I could do it tomorrow. I would outlaw all private cars. Furthermore, I would design all CMV’s to be heavily armored, and only go 15 mph. Furthermore, they would all have a force-field around them, which would repel contact with all objects. Naturally, my system would be extraordinarily expensive, especially that force-field part, which I would have to invent. You would all ultimately die from starvation, but you would not die in a CMV accident. Clearly, this is not a desirable system, although I admit, I would like to make some FMCSA bureaucrats live under it for a few days. Not long enough to actually starve to death, but definitely long enough to miss a few meals.

I have been trying to imagine any system where all motor vehicle accidents have been eliminated, and I have yet to come up with one under which I want to live. I suppose the one which seems most likely is one where the computers drive the vehicles for you, and they are all linked together, so the computers will prevent your vehicle from running into walls or other vehicles. Of course, whoever controls the computers, controls your car. In such a complex system, almost certainly a central agency will control the computers, not you. So, if they decide the computers need maintenance, or the computer does not have enough memory today, you have to stay home. You will not be allowed to drive on your own. That’s dangerous… you might hurt yourself or others! We can’t have that.

This system was on display in the movie “I, Robot”, with Will Smith. Although in that movie, Will Smith did have the option to drive his vehicle manually, which I predict will never actually happen under such a system. If the government goes through all the trouble to design such a system, they’re not going to let you screw it up by driving your car yourself, and possibly getting in a accident thereby wrecking their perfect accident-free statistics. In fact, in the movie, Will Smith did drive his vehicle, and he did get in a terrible wreck with a CMV. Of course, the wreck was caused by the computer going beserk, but details, details.

The reason I predict the “I, Robot” system will not have the option to drive the car yourself, is because the system is not designed for accident prevention. It is designed for control. They don’t want to save your life. They want to control you. If the State ever becomes powerful enough to design a system like “I, Robot”, where the computers can drive the cars, the State will mandate the computers drive the cars. You will not be allowed to drive, for your own safety. As Anne Ferro says, “even one fatality is too many”. So, the State will tell you it’s for your own good, and it’s all about safety, but in reality it’s about control.

I challenge the FMCSA to describe to me how they intend to eliminate all CMV accidents without eliminating all my freedom of movement, and/or starving me to death, as well. It’s that last part they never, ever think about. Ever. No one in that agency ever says, by continuing to push more and more draconian regulations, perhaps we are actually making things worse. Stripping Americans of their rights and liberties never enters the bureaucrats’ thinking. To them, it is simply irrelevant.

Furthermore, they always assume that more regulations mean less highway deaths. In reality, stricter regulations often cause more deaths. For example, take their new sleep apnea regulations, coming to a doctor near you in the very near future. I have seen no evidence that sleep apnea is some sort of horrific safety hazard, killing thousands of people on the roadways a year. Nevertheless, we are preparing to disqualify tens of thousands of fat, older, experienced, safe truck drivers. In exchange, these spots will be filled with skinny, inexperienced truck drivers, who will not be as safe.

Then, as the years pass, these skinny, inexperienced truck drivers will get experience, and become safe truck drivers. Unfortunately, as the years pass, they will become fatter, as older people get fat. So, at a certain point, many of the new drivers, will also become fat, sleep apnea risks, and they too will be forced out of the industry. The cycle will repeat itself.

Every time I hear an FMCSA bureaucrat say, “our goal is to eliminate CMV accidents”, what they are really saying is, “our goal is to control you as much as we possibly can”. That’s not a good thing. Just in case you have never heard this, Benjamin Frankin said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”. Smart man, that Franklin.

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