Sprint Chief

Enforced speed control reduces the concentration of the driver and increases the accident rate because people rely on their speed limiter and drive at the speed limit; the speed limit and an appropriate speed for the road are two very different things.

Not my opinion, this is the outcome of a (limited) study - which was not reported as it wasn't considered "interesting news" by the media. Many interesting statistics - such as a significant increase in the number of jumped red lights by those with mandatory limiters!

Read about it here

hedgehog

GPS only receives and so, as you say, you could shield it from the bad rays from the sky and it would stop working. However, I suspect they've already thought of this and suspect that for a start if it detects your wheels turning and no GPS signal for an extended period then it will phone home and perhaps even disable the car. I would imagine there will be other cleverl "safety" systems built in to ensure that if you disable it then you will pay for your crime.

What you have to remember is that this isn't about safety or making things better for the motorist, this is about driving you from your car and having control over you. So, I'd say that the systems of enforcement will be well thought out and you will find that disconnecting your device will be a very serious crime indeed.

NotoriousREV says it will never go on his car and while I would like to think there would be a mass protest I don't actually think there will be. The ABD, for example, campaign for motorists rights on issues like this and only have a few thousand members, there are 23 million motorists. I suspect this will slip by in a wave of apathy and those who don't comply will be removed from society.

Tiggs

thats because most ppl dont care, they arent being suckered by the gov....they just dont see the problem.

T

ps...im one of them, they can strap what they like on my car- i really dont give a toss.

boomer

Many thanks for that link Sprint Chief!

I have been searching for that for ages (and i am an ABD member) but failed.

Actually, we ALREADY have an externally controlled transport system where those on the move play no part in the decision making process. They are called trains, and we know how great they are. Wasn't there a problem recently when the doors would not open due to the GPS system thinking that the train was not in a station?

Still, at least trains prove that speed is indeed GOOD - according to Beardies 125mph pendulum efforts being hyped by the government this week!!

mb

ajm

As well as the obvious problems with overtaking manoevres I'd be interested to know how they intend to handle changes in the limit where it increases, for example from 30 to 50. If you are bimbling along with your foot to the floor in a 30, what happens when you move into the 50? Will your car accelerate straight into the car infront before you can react?!

Leslie

Forget any idea of doing any overtaking any more, no chance that will be allowed!

This is a frightening account and as Not Rev and UB have said, it is the forerunner of the eventual ambition of these people and that is total control of the population. If they are allowed to get away with it then eventually you will be unable to do anything at all without a special pass and then only if you are wearing a personal tag so you can be monitored at all times. If you want your life to go that way, just stay apathetic and then you will only have your self to blame, too late unfortunately.

wacky.banana

Very funny. Serious discussion with the occasional fun highlights. Just the way Scoobynet used to be.

NotoriousREV

Take 2 drivers and put them in identical cars.

Tell driver A that the car is packed with dynamite and a trembler switch so the slightest collision will result in certain death.

Tell driver B that the car is a new experimental design that can withstand any crash without harming the driver.

Who will drive most carefully?

Take away not only personal choice but personal responsibility and the result will be chaos. You'll drive with little or no concentration, consideration or care. Where driving used to be a skill to proud of, it will be a chore to be done away with. As mentioned earlier, you'll end up jumping the lights to gain the extra edge, you'll drive quicker through bends to make up time and generally take more risks.

I'm thinking of making stickers: Not on my car, not ever (tm)

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

with all this traffic calming in place and road maintainence causing queues red light jumping is more and more common half the time its hard to turn right at a set of lights as there is "ALWAYS" someone who will run the red light

hedgehog

Going quickly around bends will not be an option as they will be one of the "danger" areas where your speed limiter will kick in. This will apply if you are in an urban area or if you are in the wilds of Scotland with not another car in sight.

The discussion of safety and overtaking indicates that the people who want to implement this are fooling us all, me included. This is about raising cash, pandering to the greens and control over your movements. Vague discussions concerning safety are just a smoke screen to have us discuss if this is safe or not. This distracts us from the fundamental point which is that this system gives some green cycling nutter control over our lives and lets him keep a close eye to ensure that we are doing what we are told. Even people who have never been in a car in their lives should be fighting this for the sake of their own personal freedom.

Leslie

Qiute right too!

dpb

i have gps on me boat , but dive boats etc have dgps which is more accurate -but still nor enough to control all movements in a car i wouldnt ave thought .............only matter o time prolly. .............having said that batteries rundown ....

hedgehog

DGPS can be very, very accurate indeed, I believe that is what is used to "automatically" dock many of the larger ships for example. However, the problem with it is that it requires land based transmitters that are at a known fixed location. The position of the receiver in relation to the satellites is then fine tuned using the known position of this fixed transmitter.

Apart from the issues of putting transmitters out to cover the whole country there is also the issue of, say, a power failure killing a ground based transmitter and causing 1000 remotely controlled cars on the motorway to crash. Such an event would cause public protest and would be detrimental to the administrations plans to have control over your life.

As the actual concept behind this is to have control over your life there is no need for the administration to take those kind of risks. They will be happy to know where you are to within about 15 - 20 feet and to be able to charge you for it without the need to have any great number of police on the roads, the greens will be happy that you will never be driving faster than 40mph and your insurance company will be happy that you always slow to 20mph for those great bends that you used to horse around at 80mph.

All those people will be happy. There are 23 million motorists and the large majority of them will not be happy. Except for those driving people carriers while wearing hats and blocking up the middle lane most motorists will be very unhappy indeed as death rates rise and they get more and more fines for more and more trivial offences. As I've said before: if you are not part of the fight you are part of the problem.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Letter to MP written, in post tomorrow morning.

Neil Smalley

According to the latest opinion polls, blair and his cronies will out of office very soon. And not too soon too

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

That's encouraging - but they (or whoever may replace them) still need to know what issues concern and influence voters.

Write in and whinge, it feels good

Jap2Scrap

OK. One last attempt to get cars fully automated by 2010.

These new BMWs and Mercs coming out now with the 'distance sensors' and 'lane sensors' for use on motorways.. The distance sensing device on the front will drop your speed if you get too close to the car in front (dead scary if you're about to boot it and overtake and you switch lanes whilst losing power, if you ask me) whilst the lane sensors will give an audible signal to warn you if you're drifting towards the white lines. Presumably they could be used to maintain a position relative to the lane and car in front. Couple that with GPS and suddenly you truly are looking at fully automated control are you not?

imi

TOO ALL CAR ENTHUSIASTS inc MYSELF.....

WELCOME TO THE NEW DEMOCRACY.....

SJ_Skyline

Photoshopped earlier

RB170

F**K This I'm emigrating

hedgehog

There is no question that it is possible to design an "automated" car and as you say many of the germans in particular are almost there. I watched a demo of a fully automated Merc which worked well until it came to a T-junction with a private driveway opposite the junction. Unfortunately it believed the private driveway to be part of the road and went straight across (at speed) into some poor persons front gates. However, the technology is basically there.

However, for what the government wants there is no need for such complex solutions as they want to make driving unpleasant to drive you on to what public transport there is and they want to be sure that when you do drive they know your every move, can charge you for it and that you'll not exceed a green imposed 40mph limit. In reaction to this it is likely that Merc and the like will try to produce a more automated car as there will be no joy or "driving experience" in driving around at 40mph and having your car slow to 20mph for every corner. So, manufacturers will be selling us cars on features rather than performance and clearly when you are basically on a train carriage the ability to have it drive itself is a positive one.

It is nearly impossible not to draw comparisons between what is going on here and the action of Stalin. We all remember the spy movies where there were check points at the end of each road and the administration timed you along the road to make sure that you didn't do anything they didn't agree with. Well, the digital mapping process for implementing this in the UK is due to be complete next September. After that you will be travelling at 40mph, you'll only be travelling on the roads you are allowed to travel on and you will be paying £1.45 per mile for the experience. In saying that the flat cap - people carrier - middle lane of the motorway at 55mph brigade will be over the moon as they will think the administration has based the new model transport system on them.