K'Tesh

Just an idea...

When legally purchasing a gun in the U.S., you have to go through a background check. I believe that it takes about 2 weeks before you can pick up the weapon, presuming you are clear to do so.

Why not do that with cars? Make the buyer pay for a background check (pays for the administration, and puts something into a insurance fund for victims of uninsured/under-insured drivers). The results of the check are put into a national directory that is only good for say..... X months.

DUI's and other serious driving incidents (suspended licences, reckless driving, etc) red flag the driver (voiding the remainder of X months). Legal forfeiture of driving privileges will automatically be posted. Attempts to circumvent the system result in longer (perhaps permanent) loss of driving privileges.

Make sure that there are clear methods to appeal the red flag (for those victims of ID theft).

dynodonn 

Not going to happen in the US, not at least during our lifetimes. The primary design of a firearm is to cause intentional death or severe injury, whereas the auto's primary design is transportation, and inflicting injury or death is not it's main purpose.

genec

Well when you purchase a car, you have to present your drivers license. The possession of a drivers license should indicate whether you had a suspended licences, reckless driving, DUI, etc... Now if only we can get the existing laws enforced and have judges willing to actually take away a drivers license in the event of a poor driving record... vice sending DUIs back out on the road, etc.

The thing is far too many people, including judges feel that driving is a right, not the privilege it actually is... fix that problem, and the rest will take care of itself.

dougmc

For the record, this isn't even always true for guns.

If you buy from a dealer, you have to get the background check -- which could take somewhere between a few minutes to two weeks (depends on the state.)

If you buy from an individual who is not a dealer, no background check required.

As for making car buyers do this, remember that most adults in this country are drivers, but most aren't gun owners. We like to legally persecute/belittle minorities (smokers, gun owners, *****exuals, etc.) but drivers are a majority, and driving is seen as mundane, normal. Therefore, so such law is going to happen, not without some massive changes in how people think.

waldowales

The firearm background check in Utah takes less than ten minutes, unless you have a concealed carry permit, then it takes about two minutes. Neither the concealed carry permit nor the driver license requires a demonstration of competency.

genec

So there is no written test or driving skill test to obtain a drivers license in Utah? I find that hard to believe... of course it may be so pitifully simple that even incompetent people can drive...

WickedThump

This isn't true either. My Mom, (doesn't drive, doesn't have a license), bought a car for me with a phone call several states away with an EFT. AllI had to do was give them my info for registration, no ID from me required.

I'd support much more rigorous testing for getting a license, as well as driving tests every 10 years up to age 60, then every 5 years after that. Cyclists without a DL should be tested as well.

B. Carfree

Sure, that's true. But there are many days when I wonder...

Setting aside the stated primary purpose, we still have the fact that cars have kill more people than guns. I don't know how many people are injured by guns, but I suspect that cars "win" that one too. And, as a general rule, these deaths and injuries occur while a motorist is violating the law. It seems like there should be some way of restricting access to cars for those people who have a demonstrated tendency to use them in a dangerous and unlawful manner.

CB HI

And no good comes from putting food on the dinner table, right.

DX-MAN

Better idea....

Make the driver's test tougher than the SATs. TAKE UP that two weeks with something constructive!

dynodonn 

The last I heard, it was called a jail or prison.

dynodonn 

Food for the table that involves meat generally involves killing, which is the primary design of a firearm, hence the tighter restrictions placed on them.

CB HI

Likely motorist kill more animals than hunters. At least the animal deaths serve a purpose when hunters kill them.

illdoittomorrow

Here in Alberta, it's just too much trouble to keep track of people with medical conditions that could adversely affect their driving, so I can't see anything like K'tesh's idea get off the ground.

The auto manufacturing industry, oil industry, and all their spinoffs are too big and have too much inertia to allow something like background checks to happen. Watching corporate board members, PR flacks, and lobbyists' head get all asplody over it would be fun though.

Aside:

genec

Better yet, make drivers training tougher... how about a semester in elementary school on the basics of the rules of the road and cycling, followed by a semester in high school on the responsibilities and ethics of road use and driving.

Get us away from the 40 hour "crackerjack" driver training joke that exists now.

nd2010

If a car weighing 2000 pounds going 50 mph slams into a cyclist weighing 200 pounds going 15 mph, how much momentum is transferred from the car to the cyclist if both vehicles are going the same direction?

If you are parallel parked and about to get out of your car, and you see a cyclist 100 feet away coming towards you at 15 mph, do you have time to open your door and close it and get out of the way before the cyclist approaches you? If the cyclist weighs 200 pounds and crashes into your open car door at 15 mph, how many Newtons of force will the cyclist experience?

Why is it believed that driving is a right and gun ownership is a privilege? It's the other way around. The 2nd amendment gives us a right to own a gun, but nowhere in the Constitution does it give us the right to own a car.

K'Tesh

AMEN!!!!

sudo bike

Meh, I think that is super overkill. I'm OK with more intense driving training being necessary, but I don't think additional regulation on buying the car is either necessary or helpful. Although the market for clean drivers buying cars and reselling them to avoid the check would sure make a new market for the economy.

Fargo Wolf

In Canada, that would come up on a Driver's Abstract. In the Province of British Columbia, where I live, that sort of info is also sent to ICBC, which provides insurance for all drivers in the province, who will then adjust the rate for the guilty driver.

https://www.icbc.com/autoplan-insuran...-costs/crs.pdf

waldowales

You nailed it! The tests are so simple, they may as well not exist, and once you have the license, it's yours for life. Unless you really mess up, renewals are a matter of paying the fee and proving your citizenship.

cabledawg

That's a parental responsibility. At 11/12, my kids are already learning the rules of the road. Once they can reach the pedals easily, I'll be taking them out in parking lots to learn basic operation/use and to drive a stick shift. By the time they get to driver's ed, they should know everything to pass any test; the course will just be a formality.

sudo bike

Good on you! I just think the test itself should be more in-depth. In Hungary, for example, you have to go through an emergency maneuvers test, basic first-aid test with the requirement to carry an aid kit in the vehicle (which may not fly here for liability reasons), how to set up road flares, basic mechanical test (nothing intensive, just fluids and such). Which would be awesome if you didn't just have to bribe the tester to get the license... goes with the territory of post-Communist corruption I guess.

I'd just be happier with more intensive driving test though, honestly, especially the inclusion of emergency maneuvers.

genec

Are you putting them on bicycles now? Their feet will already reach those pedals.