20110804-Stossel-[Government in My Car]-Fox Business.CF.avi

STOSSEL - [Government in My Car] - Fox Business Network
2011, August 4, Thursday

Xvid/MP3 AVI - encoded from medium quality ReplayTV stream

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[excerpted from John Stossel's blog:]

Government is all over our cars.

This month the Obama administration announced new rules for car fleets: average mileage must increase from 35 mpg to 54 mpg by 2025.

But smaller cars are more dangerous. The government admits that since its mileage rules went into effect, the falling size of cars has caused 2,000 extra deaths a year.

No matter. You still have to obey. As a result, you may die, and your new car may cost an extra $7,000 per car according to the Center for Automotive Research.

Rear-view videocameras will soon be mandatory. NHTSA says it would cost between $115 and $160 per car. $28 million per life saved.

And Government will soon require Electric/hybrid cars to be noisier.

State government busybodies are cracking down on use of phones while driving. They think more laws solve every problem. They don't.

The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study showed crash rates rose in three out of four states after texting bans were put in place.

The group says the increased crash rates were due to drivers responding to the ban by holding their phones lower when they sent a text -- increasing the risk of a crash.

Laws against texting are part of the bureaucrats' technological panic.

More on government in our cars, and a look at whether Communist China has something to teach us about traffic, tonight at 10pm.