Tesla convicted 18 times and ordered to pay thousands for failing to help UK police with investigations

@cstross oh okay, fine, I thought it was more a telemetry kind of thing. It makes total sense with cars that are actually leased. My fault.

@mathew @angusm @cstross why does mad max have a cowboy hat and mustache?!?

@AndrewBC Elon probably came up with the name and the icon on two different ketamine benders.

I mean, if they wanted to be truly edgy, they'd give it a skull icon and call it FAFO.

@mathew @angusm @cstross

@mstrife @cstross Still not fine, IMHO.

Better would be for police actually to pull cars over if they're speeding so dangerously so that (1) there's no question who was driving, and (2) people accused of an offense could actually face their accuser, as one should have the right to do in a liberal democracy.

@SteveFoerster @mstrife @cstross wouldn't that mean the effective end of speed cameras and average speed cameras?

The one example in the article where it's clear what happened, it's a speed camera, and I'm guessing all the other Tesla cases involve speed cameras.

It would also mean the same for enforcement of decriminalised offences such as parking violations - the parking attendant would have to catch **you** for the violation, not only ticket the car!

@jbenjamint @mstrife @cstross Yes, it would mean that, and good riddance. We live in too much of a surveillance society as it is. If someone is a genuine danger to others, they will come to the attention of competent law enforcement.

@SteveFoerster @jbenjamint @mstrife This is the UK, where austerity cuts have pared police traffic patrols to the non-existent bone. There *is* no competent law enforcement, just cameras.

Tesla convicted 18 times and ordered to pay thousands for failing to help UK police with investigations

In each case, when British police officers tried to track down the details of speeding Tesla drivers, their letters went unanswered and the forces ended up prosecuting the company itself

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/tesla-elon-musk-car-convicted-5HjdR8N_2/

@coral @cstross that's not the case usually though. I've had cars under HP and PCP and all of them have been registered to me as the owner.
I suspect that these may be lease cars rather than HP (I've never had a lease so dunno what happens there)

@jaark @coral @cstross I thought it was "registered keeper", rather than necessarily the owner?

@brad @jaark @coral Yes, but the "registered keeper" is *usually* the owner, or a proxy for them.

@cstross I could absolutely see this as an excellent argument for speeding fines as a percentage-of-assets thing rather than a fixed cost thing. That might possibly get their attention a little sooner.

@cstross @jaark @coral Yes, that's what I'm getting at I thought vehicle registration papers named the keeper - so the owner, or the lessee - rather than strictly the owner. It's weird that Tesla would need to divulge the vehicles' keepers rather than that being declared at the point of "sale"; I didn't think that was legally allowed.

@wordshaper @cstross for more egregious violations (90-100 mph+ on motorway or 50 mph+ in built up areas) they are already are proportional to income, albeit with a cap of £1500 on local roads and £2500 on motorways. Still a large chunk out of anyone but the richest person's income..

@vfrmedia @wordshaper Pshaw! The heaviest motoring fine I've heard of was in Finland where some techbro-investor-class dude was speeding so egregiously he got dinged for roughly 40,000 euros.

@cstross @wordshaper yes, Finland does not have the maximum income cap. Interestingly ISTR he simply paid the fine, and didn't even whine about traffic laws or his freedom being restricted like folk in UK tend to do..

@vfrmedia @wordshaper Pshaw! The heaviest motoring fine I've heard of was in Finland where some techbro-investor-class dude was speeding so egregiously he got dinged for roughly 40,000 euros.

@brad @jaark @coral These were leasing cars owned by Tesla. They were either loaners for test drives, or Tesla was renting them out.

@jbenjamint @mstrife @cstross Yes, it would mean that, and good riddance. We live in too much of a surveillance society as it is. If someone is a genuine danger to others, they will come to the attention of competent law enforcement.

@eedly @AndrewBC @mathew @angusm @cstross Elon is the kind of loser who watches all the good movies, and reads the cool books, and entirely and completely misses the message.

He see the Mad Max as a blueprint, not a cautionary tale. He's probably got Immortan Joe cosplay in his closet.