What passengers? on average there aren’t any.
It’s quite mean of them to do so, but they’re just trying to keep this mode out of the median. 
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It’s certainly true that many people drive alone, but I think that particular methodology is absurd-- you can’t just divide the total number of vehicles by the total number of people to see if people are typically driving alone-- that’s like saying a couple who own a summer cottage must be separated because on average each of their homes has one occupant. Certainly in urban areas there are a lot of incentives to share rides – high occupancy lanes only open to carpoolers, expensive and hard to find parking, the general unpleasantness of driving in traffic, etc.
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Not at all. they each get 0.8 children in the divorce, rounding up to two per house.
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It seems like extortion to me, but IANAL.
Looking at the “worst of the worst” listings, I’ve lived in Minnesota and Iowa, and I doubt the worst driver is in either state, though in both places you can find yourself blocked on the roads by slow-moving tractors captained by people who have consumed too much Schnapps. My guess is that these are all people Jansen knows and doesn’t especially like.
And the contents of their pockets
Hey, even the Capital One vikings have to ask what’s in your wallet.
Just tie in the credit information from Equifax and that should be good enough.
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A link to any and all leaked personal data if we’re going in that direction.
I can imagine a certain subset of the population that would take pride in having the highest counter on this app…
Ouch. Using statistics against individuals. Classic.
Usually gets used against poor people and minorities. Of course, we could also do things differently and give all owners of black Audis a speeding ticket without measuring their speed first. Statistically, that is perfectly justified and they can afford to pay, anyway.
Also, can anyone here confirm whether this App is being sold to European customers as well? Because I’m sure this would be blatantly illegal here even without the extortion.
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Yep!
Although given that there have been no reviews and it was last updated in 2015 it doesn’t look like there are many users
H. Allen Smith wrote of a chance conversation with someone who had figured out that can openers (this was a while back) put a shred of metal into the food, and thought it likely this led to preventable illnesses. Smith was impressed with this reasoning and asked what he’d do with this. Well, the guy said, he’d figure out who to get a payout from to keep quiet: the can opener people or the can people.
Smith was disgusted with this mercenary attitude, which I was just now reminded of, for some reason.
Still waiting for the app that will let you bid on traffic lights (stay with what’s showing now or advance in the cycle). This is what will one day ensure that only wealthy people can go anywhere in a car.
Something similar, possibly better/worse depending on your opinion has existed for a while in the UK http://rate-driver.co.uk/ Also checks Tax and MOT ( yearly road worthyness check )
Oh, it is. Blackmail is the threat of releasing information, whereas demanding payment to stop publishing information is extortion. I think a lot of states treat them as legally similar crimes though.
I’m skeptical that many drivers will pay to have their plates de-listed. Extortion schemes like mugshot sites work because they attach identifying information to something for which the stick-up-their-ass crowd will discriminate against people, namely having been arrested (whether they were charged or not). But the only way this extortionist will be able to obtain identifying information is if and when someone pays the extorted money non-anonymously.
It’s illegal for non law enforcement to run plates and vehicle registration databases are not publicly available. In the unlikely event that the extortionist is himself LE, he’ll be discovered quickly if he tries to run a lot of plates in a short period of time.
Jerk de Jour 2.0
A site called passingremarks.com has been quietly doing this for years, in an apparently less salacious way… one difference is that only the owner* of the tagged auto can see the “remarks” people make about them.
(Mind you, “owner” is defined as “first person to create an account with that number plate”, but hey, short of deals with every DMV in the world, dunno what other options exist)
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I believe that Lyft and Uber show you the license plate number of the driver responding to your call. Ignoring other potential problems with the Bad Driver Database app, one could look up the license plate of the rideshare car coming to get you to see if they’ve been “reported” before.
I’d imagine I might think twice of getting into a car that’s been reported as a bad driver a dozen times already.
Just how does one enter a license plate number into this app? Using a keyboard? I envision:
- Driver being a jerk.
- Observing driver opens app, keys in plate.
- Driver observing observing driver opens app, keys in plate of observing driver.
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
Wait, using this app makes you a bad driver by default. Entering in license plate numbers? Geez.
Look, we would all like to forget that film.
Tell me about it. I don’t drive: I’m the navigator. And I am frequently thwarted by the fact that my in-car GPS locks up when the car is in motion.
