[Az-Geocaching] Oregon bureaucrats consider using GPS to track motorists

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 14:13:50 -0700

This story from <a href="http://news.statesmanjournal.com/home.cfm">StatesmanJournal.com</a> has been sent to you by
Ken Akerman (Ken@Highpointer.com), who sent along the following comments:<p>

Please see my earlier note and commentary about this topic. Here is an article from an Oregon newspaper describing the proposal.

<a href="http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=54184"><b>Oregon drivers may pay more</b></a><p>
A panel will consider a mileage tax for the state's motorists.<p>
The Associated Press<p>

December 31, 2002<p>

The Road User Fee Task Force set up by the 2001 Legislature plans to ask the 2003 session to authorize testing the feasibility of a vehicle mileage tax.
Oregon was the first state to adopt a gas tax, in 1919, and could become the first to collect road fees via space technology.
Jim Whitty, the task force administrator, says Oregon relies on the gas tax to pay for its road system and gas tax revenues are expected to flatten as gas mileage improves and more hybrid cars come on line.
Whitty said the task force at this point wants a charge per mile. To be equivalent to the gas tax now, the substitute fee would have to be 1.25 cents per mile.
Whitty said it would be slightly higher to make up for additional administrative costs.
"We also have to have a way to track mileage only within the state," Whitty said. This rules out basing the fee on odometer readings, which would include out-of-state driving.
"Technology has improved to the degree that this can be done, with an electronic device," he said. The device, in a car, would be linked to the Global Positioning Satellite or GPS system, which allows pinpoint navigation by bouncing signals off satellites.
The task force hopes to organize a test of this system if the Legislature approves. 
First it would test whether the idea works. 
Then a small fleet of cars would be equipped with the system and evaluated for a year or so.
Whitty said there are several options for collecting fees. One is to send vehicle owners a monthly bill. 
Another is to outfit gas stations so they can read the vehicle transponders and collect the tax at fueling stops.
The gas tax would remain in effect. In paying the new tax, drivers would get credit for gas tax paid.
To protect drivers' privacy, using the system to track cars in real time would be illegal. New cars would be required to have the GPS technology. Owners of older cars would be allowed to take part by retrofitting them.
The task force is thinking of the change in terms of several years away. A decision might not come until the 2005 or 2007 legislative session.
This coming session, though, the task force will submit a bill authorizing a fee for the use of studded tires to help collect for road damage done by the studs. 
Whitty said the group wants a two-region approach because most of the damage -- estimated at $11 million a year -- is done in the Willamette Valley.

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