by RNH Nello

Created on: May 29, 2009

What an interesting question. Oh, not interesting in terms of national driving laws, over the years a number of organizations and agencies have offered such common approaches to driving. No, it is that anyone would suggest that the federal government would enact legislation defining a set of common laws applicable across the united States.

Beyond the fact that efforts to find commonly applicable driving rules hasn't found general acceptance because driving conditions and needs are different in different parts of the country, there is no power delegated to the federal government to enact such laws that would be acceptable within the borders of a single State.

To even try to do this, and remain constitutional, the federal government would have to further impinge on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution using justifications which are (thankfully) increasingly considered extra-Constitutional. Even with the current administration which seems to be quite fixated on using the federal government to enforce solutions on every problem (real or imagined) in the country, it is unlikely that such an approach would be attempted. But never say never, who would ever have believed that the federal government would own 70% of a private sector automobile manufacturer, so anything is possible.

However, it is more likely that if the federal government would to move into such an area they would do so through approach similar to that used to force the seatbelt laws. That is, demanding of the States that they enact, and enforce seatbelt laws or lose access to federal monies. An approach that if done within the private sector would be defined as extortion and those doing it would likely be subject to the RICO Act.

Although they never envisioned automobile nor the ensuing driving laws, the Founders did view the States as quite different and both able and responsible for their own laws. Driving is one of those laws with differences from State to State because such laws reflect those different needs within each State.

In an agriculture State it is not only common to have those in their early teens driving, it is a necessity within the family farm life. For example, I was driving tractor by the age of ten (working horse prior to that age) and driving on roads by the time I was twelve. The youth in such environments learn the responsibility that goes with that as they learn to drive.

On the other hand, while every bit as responsible, youth in an urban environment do not have the same requirements or environments. To apply the same 'driving rules' to both is simply not logical.

Similar situations occur when equines are used to pull various vehicles. Some areas of the country it is relatively common to meet animals on roads, some drawing vehicles and others be rode and yet in some cases animals being herded down the road. However even this is different in different parts of the country. Meeting horses drawing buggies or being rode in Manhattan is not the same as meeting them in Pennsylvania and different yet in Wyoming.

Meeting emergency vehicles on expressways, or on country roads or in city centers are quite different situations and again, applying the same laws is just creating an awaiting disaster.

However, more important than any of these obvious points is the reality that the federal government does not have any Constitutionally delegated powers and for the federal government to enact such extra-constitutional laws is to rip the Constitution deeper than it has been ripped so far.

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