The Sacramento Bee published an article on Tuesday announcing that Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner released regulations permitting mileage verification for pay-as-you-go car insurance.

This is extremely concerning for several reasons, but the most important is that Poizner is running for governor as a Republican and this was a chance for him to stand up for conservative principles.

According to the Bee, the regulations are extremely open-ended, meaning that it will be up to the insurance companies in order to determine the means of measurement and how exactly to charge and implement the new policy. The goal of this new insurance method is to encourage Californians to reduce their driving in order to limit pollution and traffic congestion.

Insurance companies are already able to determine rates based on how far your drive to work and what region you live in, so why do we need to take it to the level of paying per mile?

At this point the regulation says that you cannot use a monitoring device that tracks where you drive and at what time you are driving, but in 16 states Progressive insurance uses a device that tracks not only mileage, but speed and time as well.

And once that information is collected, who knows where it ends up or what insurance companies could do with it. It may be prohibited at this point, but things like this have a way of finding loop holes and getting your foot in the door is the first step.

What is most troublesome about this whole thing is that I wonder who is really looking out for the consumer? Certainly not the insurance companies. They are in business to make a profit, not to take care of the public. And politicians?

We all know that most of their loyalties remain with whoever is giving them the most money at that time, this case being insurance companies. It seems that rather than being a way to reduce costs for consumers who do not drive a lot, it will become a way to raise rates on those who do not opt for the pay-as-you-go plan.

This paying to drive insurance model is just another way for the government to try to dictate how we live our lives. I enjoy the freedom of knowing that if I want to get in my car and drive across the state, I do not have to worry about being penalized for doing so. This new model restricts what we can and cannot do and could potentially end up with the government having the ability to track where we are at all times.

I realize that it is only planned to be an option of a way to offer insurance, but once insurers see how profitable it is to charge overage fees and the government sees how it reduces green house gas emissions, what is to stop insurance companies from only offering pay-as-you-go? No one will be looking out for what is best for the people because they will be worried about global warming and making a profit.

I may not have been around when car insurance was mandated, but a comment on the Sac Bee story really put things in perspective: “Remember when they mandated auto insurance and we were told it will lower rates? What happened?” We cannot just expect the government to hand down these regulations and that it is truly what is best for the public because time and time again we see that it is not…Poizner I’m looking at you.