Outlaw smoking, drinking, french fries, sky diving, bungee jumping, sports cars, and deep fried twinkies.
It would cause a minor interference and save lives.
When will you, and others, realize that saving lives is no the end-all be-all of objectives. A wise man once said "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees".
First of all, this is hardly repression. Second of all, we're talking about the US government...wait, maybe we are talking about repression.... The real freedom in the US is not the freedom to be who you want or live the American dream, but the freedom to be a total lazy idiot. However, as long as I can remember, that freedom has been whittled away at, and it's really becoming a problem.
Requiring ASM is not the same thing as preventing people from driving. It's more like babysitting them. If the government can find some way of babying you (removing responsibility under the guise/intention of helping you), they'll do it.
In NYC, smoking has become illegal just about everywhere. The reasoning behind it had to do with second-hand smoke. In a round-about way, ASM is helping you in the same way: by preventing other people from crashing, you're less likely to get T-boned from them (and, uh, your insurance will be lower).
It's still babying people. Cruise control, ABS, dead steering wheels, SUVs...all these things give people a false sense of security and a total disconnect with what is happening with the car. The end result is a nil effect on fatalities and crashes. The only answer is better driving education, and continued education. Not traffic enforcement, not occupant laws (seat belts, cell phones), not converting cars into nanny-wagons. Better drivers will make the right decision more of the time, thus you won't see Britney with the baby on her lap yakking on the cell phone at 15 MPH on a busy street in an oversized SUV.