We can end car chases very easily... why don't we?

[[TASF]Maverick]

I'm sure we've all seen the police car chase videos on COPs and SpikeTV and such, I for one find them entertaining. But why haven't we made it so police can stop the vehicles? We have the technology, why not use it?

OnStar is the in-vehicle safety and security system created to help protect you and your family on the road. It calls an ambulance if the airbags deploy, you can call them in any emergency, they can unlock the doors to your vehicle by satellite, and they can track your vehicle if it is stolen.

If they can unlock your doors via satellite, they can make your vehicle do anything electrical through the Powertrain Control Module. That's a given. They can turn your car off.

So when a vehicle is involved in a high speed police chase, a police officer could call in the vehicle tags, acquire the information about the vehicle, verify the information, and then request for the vehicle's electrical systems to be shut off.

Now, you can't just shut the engine off because you would lose power steering and power brakes. What I would think is that you could have the PCM shift the vehicle into neutral and disable the throttle. The vehicle could no longer accelerate... high speed police chase over.

Why can't we do this?

The supreme court declared it a breach of rights. So I guess it is my right to run from the police? Um... huh?

Can someone explain this to me? Would you object if your vehicle had a "disabling" feature on it?

[one-eyed-fatman]

We can't do this because everyone can't afford Onstar. But give the government enough time and I'm sure they will figure it all out for us. Another privacy problem will evolve.

[shipwreck]

I think many people would notw ant to use Onstar if we gave the police the ability to do this. Too much big brother...

[sjp2452]

I would. Wife's in labor, don't think it's bad so we're on the way to the hospital. Uh oh--more advanced than we thought--now the baby's crowning. Speed up, now the cops are chasing me but they don't know the lives of my family are at risk. I'm on the cell phone with 911 telling them to get the cops to stop chasing and start escorting, but that part doesn't get through. All of a sudden my car stops working, I coast to a stop and can't even help my birthing wife & child because I've got half a dozen glocks and an 870 or three pointed in my face. I'm sprawled on the ground getting handcuffed and the baby comes out with the umbilical around its neck and dies...because I got zapped 3 minutes away from the hospital where my child could have been saved.

Good thing they stopped my car!

Not a true story, but there are plenty of true ones not far off.

[[TASF]Maverick]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

We can't do this because everyone can't afford Onstar. But give the government enough time and I'm sure they will figure it all out for us. Another privacy problem will evolve.

True, but new vehicles come with the equipment already.

Older model cars wouldn't have the feature.

[[TASF]Maverick]

Originally Posted by sjp2452

I would. Wife's in labor, don't think it's bad so we're on the way to the hospital. Uh oh--more advanced than we thought--now the baby's crowning. Speed up, now the cops are chasing me but they don't know the lives of my family are at risk. I'm on the cell phone with 911 telling them to get the cops to stop chasing and start escorting, but that part doesn't get through. All of a sudden my car stops working, I coast to a stop and can't even help my birthing wife & child because I've got half a dozen glocks and an 870 or three pointed in my face. I'm sprawled on the ground getting handcuffed and the baby comes out with the umbilical around its neck and dies...because I got zapped 3 minutes away from the hospital where my child could have been saved.

Good thing they stopped my car!

Not a true story, but there are plenty of true ones not far off.

You are not granted the right to speed because your wife is in labor. Police can still charge you with speeding, running red lights, changing lanes without using a turn signal, rolling through a stop sign, and running from the police when you arrive at the hospital. You would put the lives of your family MORE at risk by speeding to the hospital. You would also put people's lives outside of the car in danger.

OnStar has a microphone inside the car and they can call and talk to you while you are driving. The audio comes in through the car's speakers and you just talk like you would talk to someone in the passenger seat. You could tell them the situation and they could have an ambulance meet you halfway, which would be safer and quicker.

The police car would then be notified, and you would be ordered to slow down to the posted speed limit. The police car would pull in front of you and serve as your escort to the ambulance/hospital. Crisis averted. *If you sped up or did not follow the police car, your car would be disabled.*

[NiK]

Originally Posted by one-eyed-fatman

We can't do this because everyone can't afford Onstar. But give the government enough time and I'm sure they will figure it all out for us. Another privacy problem will evolve.

You said it. Leave all that Big Brother ****e to Europe. I don't even want OnStar. Pay to give a stranger that kind of control over my vehicle? No thanks. If my kid gets locked in on a hot day, I'd rather break the window.

[[TASF]Maverick]

Originally Posted by shipwreck

I think many people would notw ant to use Onstar if we gave the police the ability to do this. Too much big brother...

I don't really understand what you're trying to say.

[[TASF]Maverick]

Originally Posted by NiK

You said it. Leave all that Big Brother ****e to Europe. I don't even want OnStar. Pay to give a stranger that kind of control over my vehicle? No thanks. If my kid gets locked in on a hot day, I'd rather break the window.

hahahaha the unlock feature isn't for when a kid is suffocating inside the vehicle, that's when you definitely break a window. It's for "oh crap I locked my keys inside the car again... hey, anyone got a phone I can use?"

[one-eyed-fatman]

OnStar has a microphone inside the car and they can call and talk to you while you are driving.

I can just see our government or corporate people using this feature to listen in on private family conversations. Hey the kids gotta grunt, lets stop the car for em. Hey the girls pregnant lets call her parents right away. Hey they have three kids let's send them a bunch of advertising. We'll make the car pull over at our store instead of where they want to go. No thanks...