On Wed, 4 Jul 2001, Riad S. Wahby wrote:
A speeder, in this discussion, is a person who breaks the speed limit imposed by the _rental_contract_, not the state. If the company has the technological ability to accurately (or inaccurately, although that would probably be bad for business) measure the speed of the car, they can tell if the person is exceeding their contractually determined speed, that is, "speeding." If the contract says they can charge $5000000 for each infraction, they can. Period.
Even though it's likely irrelevent over the long term, I would expect that the contract would be somewhat self-destructive where it comes into conflict with State law, for example, where the vehicle is required by law to travel at some minimum speed (45mph on the highways around here), and the rental contract specifies something different. Obviously, I pulled this example out of my ass, and it is unlikely that any of these contracts would attempt to enforce such a low limit, however, it is descriptive as an example of public policy vs private contract interests. I am sure that the lawyercritters have given us any number of strange and not so wonderful laws which could find themselves in disagreement with these private contracts... -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------