GPS-linked speed limiters could become mandatory in every new car sold in Europe

[Grumpy Old Man]

Great, more nanny state non-sense. No doubt Canada will want to jump on board with this.
https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/gp...sold-in-europe

Governors to keep vehicles below roadways' speed limits would be paired with data loggers, starting three years from now


Every new car sold in Europe could be required to be fitted with a speed limiter, along with a data logger, starting three years from now, the U.K.’s Express reports.

The technology comes after calls for more safety measures to be introduced in vehicles, and as part of efforts to reduce the number of people speeding.

Members of European Parliament have approved the installation of such devices to attempt to cut down on vehicle-related deaths.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) recommends the system would work as a full on-off switch, and would be activated as soon as the car is turned on. The limiters will reduce collisions by an estimated 30 percent, and save around 25,000 lives over 15 years.

The limiter wouldn’t totally cut people off from going over the speed limit, however: if you press hard on the accelerator, it will override the system, in case drivers need the speed to pass or avoid accidents. A data log will record those breaches of speed, and let the driver know to slow down.


“If the driver continues to drive above the speed limit for several seconds, the system should sound a warning for a few seconds and display a visual warning until the vehicle is operating at or below the speed limit again,” explains the ETSC.

Even though the U.K. primed to leave the EU, that country will most likely adopt the mandatory limiters, too.

[Mandi90TT]

I see no way in which this could go wrong.

Actually, I do see a way: You're doing a nice, easy 200 kph on the Autobahn. Your GPS has a glitch, and all the sudden it thinks you are in the middle of London (that's a pretty big glitch!) where the limit is 15 kph. It hits the brakes for you, and bam, the guy behind you doing 200 kph slams right into you.

But no, that will never happen, because electronic systems never glitch.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

I see no way in which this could go wrong.

Actually, I do see a way: You're doing a nice, easy 200 kph on the Autobahn. Your GPS has a glitch, and all the sudden it thinks you are in the middle of London (that's a pretty big glitch!) where the limit is 15 kph. It hits the brakes for you, and bam, the guy behind you doing 200 kph slams right into you.

But no, that will never happen, because electronic systems never glitch.

So I suspect we can all think of a bunch of things that could go wrong with this, but can we also agree that there are lots of folks that will think this is a great idea. I mean really, we all know them. They are the same ones that drive in the outside land doing the speed limit because, "it's the speed limit and no one needs to drive faster".......

[overlook637]

You can't have "free Healthcare" and expect the government to not regulate activities which cost them health care expense.

I'd expect in the newt few years America will develop a private system to monitor drivers. Many insurance companies now have OBD monitors that lower insurance costs.

[tuco44]

With the future self-driving cars, I can see where this type of legislation will come as well.

Let's face it, we are likely in the last generation of independent driving on public roads. Glad I won't be here to see all the future unfold.

[Mason Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

I see no way in which this could go wrong.

Actually, I do see a way: You're doing a nice, easy 200 kph on the Autobahn. Your GPS has a glitch, and all the sudden it thinks you are in the middle of London (that's a pretty big glitch!) where the limit is 15 kph. It hits the brakes for you, and bam, the guy behind you doing 200 kph slams right into you.

But no, that will never happen, because electronic systems never glitch.

Did you read the entire article?

[DanG]

I sure hope this software doesn’t get approved in the US. Nobody drives the speed limit on the interstates outside of rush hour.

[Red Bread]

In all honesty, I'd actually support this if it also enforced those going under. Just make everyone go the same speed and we'd all get there faster. I see as many people hanging back, going under the limit and staring at their phone than I do people actually making progress by speeding.

Manage the sheeple because it's too hard for them to do it themselves.

[Suds]

Just plug this into the OBD2, you won't feel a thing!

[eluded]

Ban cars and build the train.

[jmg]

Hmmm... maybe I'll be keeping my old fashioned F80 M3 after all.

[Efthreeoh]

1984...

[Efthreeoh]

I'm glad I'll be dead in 20 years.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

1984...

34 years after 1984 I think we have to come up with a different big brother!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

34 years after 1984 I think we have to come up with a different big brother!

Nah, Orwell had it pinned the first time.

[Grumpy Old Man]

https://driving.ca/features/feature-...-be-impossible

Even high-end supercars will have their power cut so they can't exceed the speed limit


First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

Well, that didn’t take nearly as long as we thought, now did it?

Three short years ago, I cautioned/warned/completely panicked that Big Brother was looking to take over auto insurance, offering cheap coverage to anyone willing to — voluntarily, mind you — hook a black box up to their cars so Big Insurance could monitor their every “instance of extreme speed” in return for about a $20-a-month rebate on their premium. Privacy? Data protection? Freedom from prosecution? Fuggedaboutit! Anyone who signed up was effectively volunteering for 24-hour surveillance.

It sounded like a ride down Orwell’s slippery slope said I. You’re a paranoid, life-endangering scofflaw, said the critics.

Well, as it turns out, it seems I wasn’t nearly paranoid enough. News out of EU last week is that the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) of the European Parliament approved the — mandatory, this time — installation of black boxes in new cars that not only monitor your speed, but will actually prevent you from speeding. Called an Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) system, it’s essentially a GPS device that not only tracks your speed, but should you exceed the posted limit, cuts your engine’s power so, well, you can’t exceed said speed limit. This will apply to all new cars sold in Europe as early as 2022. Yes, all new cars will be strictly limited to exactly whatever the posted speed is. No, there won’t be a Lamborghini Aventador exemption.

Now forgetting, just for a minute, the philosophical and fiscal quandaries — local constabularies are not going to be very happy about the loss of speeding ticket revenues — how is this going to work practically? If all new cars are to blessed with these restrictors, what’s to stop enterprising speeders from simply holding on to their older — but gloriously noncompliant — rides? Indeed, will an entire sub-industry spring up refurbishing, rebuilding or, hell, completely remaking old sports/supercars so scofflaws can play Lightning McQueen amongst the supplicants? And if so, will Big Brother actually come into our homes — OK, our garages — and force us to retrofit our Ferrari 458/Chevrolet Camaro SS/Honda-Civic-with-way-too-big-a-turbo with an official, government-approved, sealed-with-a-tag ISA? How many civil liberties are the Justin Jack Boots of the world willing to trample in their quest for driving Utopia?

Ok, back to the slippery slope argument, it seems the EU is looking to move this technology onto the Black Diamond Hill pronto. So, while the European Transport Safety Council is recommending that a “full on/off switch” for the limiters should be included “to aid public acceptance at introduction,” that does imply even stricter rules — i.e. no on/off switch — are in the pipeline.

The reason these rules are going to be implemented is the ESTC estimates the proposed new rules will save as many as 5,000 lives a year. Now, before I start any argument on the sanctity/importance/relative value of saving lives, just let me remind faithful readers that my only sister — and her unborn child — were killed in a collision that these measures were specifically designed to prevent. Speeding driver. Passing too many cars. Unwilling to let up on the gas. The same stupid and so-very-unnecessary imbecility that we’ve all heard too many times before.

So, do I applaud the automobile industry’s every safety advance? Absolutely. Do I don my seatbelt every time I get behind the wheel? Damn straight. I don’t drink or take drugs behind the wheel, I don’t drive when I am sleepy and I have no problem slowing down for inclement conditions. I don’t want me, mine or, in fact, yours becoming a little cross on the side of any highway. But, would I be willing to trade my civil liberties — c’mon, just a few of ‘em, Dave. Don’t be such a hard-ass — to have a sister and a nephew, not to mention the best friend she married? As much as I’ve had 32 long years of resentment to fester, I would not.

And I resent the hypocrisy of those who would. For a little perspective for all you lacking the I-love-to-drive gene, imagine you’re a foodie. How would you feel if the government — in the name of saving lives, as they always do — came into your house and installed a calorie meter in your kitchen. As soon as you passed the 2,200 calories the USDA recommends for a 60 year-old-male, alarm bells would clang, kitchen lights flash. And if such an alert/warning/shame didn’t slow you down, they’d automatically lock up your fridge for the rest of the day.

Don’t laugh, it’s a worthwhile cause — more laudable, in fact, than restricting speed: According to the latest statistics from the New England Journal of Medicine, obesity kills more people worldwide than car crashes, terror attacks and Alzheimer’s combined. In fact, obesity kills ten times more Americans than do car accidents. Still no outcry? No demand for justice? Oh, you like eating.

Of course, this doesn’t, in any way, account for the truly horrible fact that car crashes injure others; over-eating, after all, is simply self-harm. Leaving aside the argument that all harm, self or otherwise, is a public issue, not to mention the hypocrisy of many current bans — exactly how does smoking in a park actually harm others? — what truly offends is, for many of the nattering nabobs of negativity rallying behind this call for diminished driving, the question of excessive speed has nothing to do with high-minded ethics. It’s simple disapproval. Altogether too often, the discourse descends into “things I don’t like doing should be banned; those I like shouldn’t.” When the good of others finally reaches their door, as Lutheran priest Martin Niemöller so sublimely advocated, mute they stand.

Even when motivations be pure, bans on anything, no matter how laudable, shouldn’t be implemented with the casualness that has become far too commonplace these days. We are far too eager to proscribe devices, activities and discourse simply because we don’t approve of them. What truly frightens me, then, is not so much that in my doddering years I won’t be able to drive like a silly bugger. But that, if the never-ending search for safety uber alles really does become the defining characteristic of our culture, the civil liberties I so believe in will come to be its most endangered.

[overlook637]

^ solid point.

Now factor in money. Government spends $$$ on healthcare, disability for life, and first responders costs on speed related car crashes. In addition society is effected by longer commutes from blocked roadways.

People can't demand free healthcare and other free government programs and not rendered the government to design methods to save money.

on a lighter note. A comedian once a said that anybody driving faster than me is nuts, anybody driving slower is stupid.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Originally Posted by overlook637

^ solid point.

Now factor in money. Government spends $$$ on healthcare, disability for life, and first responders costs on speed related car crashes. In addition society is effected by longer commutes from blocked roadways.

People can't demand free healthcare and other free government programs and not rendered the government to design methods to save money.

on a lighter note. A comedian once a said that anybody driving faster than me is nuts, anybody driving slower is stupid.

Your healthcare argument falls flat because government taxes booze and tobacco, neither of which are any good for you.

[overlook637]

Originally Posted by Grumpy Old Man

Your healthcare argument falls flat because government taxes booze and tobacco, neither of which are any good for you.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cig...pott-1.4410518 Canada taxes tobacco at $5.50 per pack and cigars are taxed at 90%. This is done to keep smoking rates near 5% of the population.


Sin taxes are used to limit use and create income for the government. NYC has the nations highest tobacco taxes and they are also the one city that plans to offer healthcare for all. NYC also wanted to tax sodas.Philadelphia and Berkeley are the first two cities to pass a tax on sugary drinks in the U.S. Berkeley's tax of 1 cent/oz of sugary drink has seen a decline in soda consumption by more than 20 percent.

The nations that have government healthcare have the most regulations on car safety.

2007 Canada if caught driving 50km/h (31 MPH) over the speed limit will automatically trigger "street racing" penalties -- even if the accused motorist is driving alone on an otherwise empty road. The change in definition will, in effect, turn ordinary speeding into an offense that can carry a $10,000 (US $9305) fine and up to six months in jail, making it one of the most expensive traffic tickets in North America.

In June, McGuinty cited the importance of combating the "organized crime" of street racing as he urged passage of the Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act which created the $10,000 penalty. The change in definition also means that the word of a police officer is all that it takes to confiscate a car and driver's license for at least seven days.

"There is no appeal from, or right to be heard before, a vehicle detention, driver's license suspension or vehicle impoundment under [the street racing] subsection," the Safer Roads Act states.

McGuinty also announced a proposal to hire 55 new traffic police officers and purchase a high-tech surveillance airplane in an attempt to rack up several of the expensive new fines.
https://www.thenewspaper.com/news/19/1918.asp

Between April, 2016, and March, 2017, there were 106,088 convictions in Alberta for going 1-15 km/h over the speed limit, the province said. That’s out of a total of 296,640 convictions.

Canada knows that speeding increases car crashes and the severity of injuries. Injuries that cost healthcare expenses.

In usa most employers now have tobacco use charges for insurance or they refuse to hire tobacco users.

[rantarM3]

Imagine an off-duty cop in his personal vehicle giving chase to bank thieves, both cars having their speed limited. The cop can't catch the thieves, and the thieves can't get away! That would make for a funny movie.

[Delta0311]

Hi we are here from the government and we just want to protect you from yourself citizen.

[overlook637]

Originally Posted by rantarM3

Imagine an off-duty cop in his personal vehicle giving chase to bank thieves, both cars having their speed limited. The cop can't catch the thieves, and the thieves can't get away! That would make for a funny movie.

In almost every state it would be illegal and for sure against agency policy to chase a thief using his personal car. Many states and agency policies require the officer to STOP chasing if lights or siren malfunction during the chase. Not uncommon for police to not even chase a bank robber.

Atlanta police won't chase a unarmed bank robber or a stolen car. Atlanta police are not even allowed to attempt a traffic stop on a known stolen vehicle. They have to call for state patrol to come help.