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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

> It’s already illegal to drink and drive. Now you want it to be illegal to modify vehicles?

I mean, it's hardly without precedent. You can't remove your license plate, you can't remove the seatbelts, you can't remove the muffler, you can't remove the catalytic converter, you can't remove the side or rear view mirrors. My state requires an annual inspection to confirm these things are all in place and working.

> Who do I get to sue when I can’t bring my dad to the hospital because he had a heart attack after I had a glass of wine.

General advice is that if it warrants drunk driving, it warrants a 911 call for an ambulance.

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A glass of wine isn’t drunk driving. The concern is allowing a computer to make what could amount to life a death decisions.

I’m sure you can imagine that there are lots of people who live in different situations than you. Waiting for an ambulance might take several hours or may simply not show up. How about that it may cost several thousand dollars?

What happens when your fancy kill switch simply malfunctions and kills a car in a life and death location like a desert in the summer.

Please try to account for more than a suburban environment when passing national laws.

This is the kind of nanny law that pushes people to plug their nose and vote for the other guy.

Edit: then to than

> A glass of wine isn’t drunk driving.

Then it's unlikely your car will count it as such.

> The concern is allowing a computer to make what could amount to life a death decisions.

Your car does this continually. Should it fire the airbags? Tension the seatbelts? Engage the antilock brakes? Oops, one wheel is slipping, adjust power to the others.

> What happens when your fancy kill switch simply malfunctions and kills a car in a life and death location like a desert in the summer.

The same thing that happens if the starter or fuel pump or battery fails.

> This is the kind of nanny law that pushes people to plug their nose and vote for the other guy.

That's the evergreen threat of the folks who always find a reason to vote for the other guy anyways.

> You can't remove your license plate, you can't remove the seatbelts, you can't remove the muffler, you can't remove the catalytic converter, you can't remove the side or rear view mirrors

Of course you can. You just can’t drive it on public roads. Plenty of vehicles aren’t street legal.

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