We all kind of knew this was coming eventually. Now that cars are controlled by on-board computers, it was only a matter of time before governments would want to start fiddling with them.
A new pilot program in the UK aims to study the effects of the Intelligent Speed Adaption system, a computer programmed with the speed limits of nearly every major road in London. If it senses that the car is going faster than the posted limit, it will cut in to slow the car down.
The company says it could reduce accidents by up to 10%. "This innovative technology could help any driver avoid the unnecessary penalties of creeping over the speed limit and at the same time will save lives," said Chris Lines, head of Transport for London's (TfL) road safety unit.
However, Andrew Howard, the AA's head of road safety, said: "Drivers are divided in their views of ISA; some hate it, some want it. Many have questions that will be answered only by trials like those being carried out by TfL."
Paul Biggs, of the Association of British Drivers, believes the system "will stop drivers thinking."
the_big_al says:
05:02 PM, 05/11/09
Never ever should that be implemented. Never. If that ever appeared here and on the vehicle I was driving I would find any means to remove said feature from my vehicle.
estreka says:
05:04 PM, 05/11/09
The trouble with these studies is that they don't review the number of accidents such a technology will create.
Also, I too would remove the device from the car.
stovt001 says:
06:19 PM, 05/11/09
I find it doubtful that the government wants to cut down on speeding. They do rely on speeding tickets as revenue generation, after all, hence the arbitrarily low speed limits. Monitoring vehicle location on the other hand...or monitoring speed to compute emissions...now that I can believe.
cwc1 says:
06:29 PM, 05/11/09
Big Brother is coming to a town near you soon.
dwhamman says:
06:30 PM, 05/11/09
Don't most accidents happen at intersections anyway? Are there emergency overrides in case you happen to need to get to a hospital at more than 30mph? What would be the impact on police department funding?
I'm guessing a lot of questions like this haven't been considered while developing the system.
I'd be curious to know what the cost of implementation is to reduce accidents by "up to" 10%; which isn't even close to reducing automobile related fatalities by 10%.
I'm with stovt001 on this one. More Big Brother BS.
cwc1 says:
06:37 PM, 05/11/09
Such a system would also take judgment out of the driver's hands and dumb it down to the lowest common denominator, which will result in more brain dead drivers behind the wheel. This could definitely cause a lot more accidents and other problems than what they claim it will prevent.
Beam me up...
mrbacon says:
10:35 PM, 05/11/09
Ok, I know this thing says that there's an override option, but obviously that's not where this is going.
The following is a response to where this IS going:
What if you need to speed up to avoid some fool who's about to crash into you? I know that probably doesn't happen much, but I'm sure it happens on occasion.
Also, I can't believe some people actually want this? "Yes, please take away my freedom."
This is one of those things where I hope so very hard that mankind has a little more sense than to ever let this fly.
And yeah, I'd remove the system from my car too if it had it. Or just buy a kit car so I don't have to worry about ridiculous regulations period.
firstwagon says:
10:55 PM, 05/11/09
It would be political suicide for any government to try to bring this one in. It's not going to happen. At the next election ANYONE running with the promise to repeal the law would win.
I don't see why it would cause anymore "brain dead drivers" then cruise control though.
stovt001 says:
11:12 PM, 05/11/09
Every opportunity you create to make driving easier for people who don't want to put effort into driving, the less effort people will put into driving.
Want to reduce accidents and congestion? Increase licensing requirements. Teach and test for skills, not just law awareness. You'll reduce the amount of drivers on the road and those who do remain will be good.
shaun6 says:
09:07 AM, 05/12/09
Ha! I bet they could replace the lost revenue from speeding tickets by making everybody pay each year with license plate renewal. It would be a "safety tax" or some other BS thing like that.
brn says:
09:31 AM, 05/12/09
It'd make cruise control pretty simple. Just toss a brick on the gas pedal.
compliance says:
10:38 AM, 05/12/09
I love step 3 in the picture. "Sophisticated electronics" is our new black magic. I don't know how they do it, it must be black magic!
desmolicious says:
01:17 PM, 05/13/09
Never happen here cuz too much money is made writing tickets. Also the insurance companies would be against it. More tickets = more excuses to jack your rates. There is a reason they provide the police with radar and laser guns. And it has nothing to do with safety.