Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK
More conditioning to get you used to the idea that the state’s tracking devices belong in your vehicle, in your life. Just look at the links at the bottom of this article – this is being rolled out or marketed in various forms throughout the west.
BBC News
December 30, 2008
Speed-limiting devices should be fitted to cars on a voluntary basis to help save lives and cut carbon emissions, according to a new report.
The government’s transport advisers claim the technology would cut road accidents with injuries by 29%.
The device automatically slows a car down to within the limit for the road on which it is being driven.
But campaign group Safe Speed warns against its use, saying it encourages drivers to enter a “zombie mode”.
Ministers are planning to help councils draw up digital maps with details of the legal speed on every road.
The speed-limiting devices will then use satellite positioning to check a vehicle’s location and when its speed exceeds the limit, power will be reduced and the brakes applied if necessary.
The Commission for Integrated Transport and the Motorists’ Forum, which both advise the government, are calling on ministers to promote a wide introduction of the system.
Education ‘important’
John Lewis, from the Motorists’ Forum, told BBC Breakfast he believed the devices would help drivers obey limits and therefore keep their licences.
“But we believe that the system should be a voluntary system, that the drivers decide if they have fitted to their car or not, and that they decide if they want to over-ride the speed limit – that should be their choice,” he said.
There would also be a positive impact on emissions and fuel consumption, he added.
Jon York, fleet manager for British Gas, whose vans are already limited to 70mph, told BBC Radio 5 Live the system had reduced road incidents for the company.
But he said the introduction of technology had to be combined with safety education.
“It does aid road safety, it does reduce incidents, but it is part of a wide-ranging number of initiatives within British Gas and one of those is driver training because you have to change people’s behaviour.”
Overtaking worries
But Claire Armstrong, from the road safety campaign group Safe Speed, said that the devices could be dangerous.
She said truck drivers using speed-limiting devices had been shown to “go into fatigue mode or zombie mode” and stopped paying attention to the road.
“That makes it highly dangerous in those scenarios. So you’ve taken the responsibility away from the driver and that is not [good] for road safety.”
Derek Charters, from the Motor Industry Research Association, believes limiting speed automatically could cause accidents.
“The last thing you need is one car to be overtaking and then pull back in, in front of the cars in front, because that braking event will then cause everybody to start to slow down, which will then compress the traffic, which then causes an incident.”
Motoring journalist Quentin Willson said he also believed taking away driver control was a “really, really bad thing”.
“Remotely policing the roads from satellites in the sky – I would worry about it an awful lot.”
Source | See Also under Travel: Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Is road-tolls fix running out of gas? | Federal government stages another retreat on road tolls | Federal Road Toll Meeting Sponsorship Kept Quiet Until After Election | Metrolinx considering road tolls after all | Mobile phones to track carbon footprint using GPS | GTA Transport Plan Defers Road Tolls, Focuses on Centralization, Intensification | Federal road-toll study announced, immediately cancelled on eve of election call | Global ‘Intelligent Transport’ initiative comes to your cellphone: Location data used to track traffic flow | GPS Mapping Systems Enable Police Tracking | Cities Debate Giving Away Public Infrastructure to Bankers | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | NYC Residents Furious over Invasive Surveillance Grid |How Big Brother watches your every move | Security officials to scan D.C. area license plates | Bush Calls for New Highway Tolls, More Private Funding of Roads | Regional transit requires ‘good governance’ | Get set – the future starts now | Today’s suburbs, tomorrow’s slums? | Road tolls, a bitter pill that works | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | Airport scanner a ‘virtual strip search’ | Is it time for toll roads? | Metrolinx Proposes Satellite Vehicle Tracking for Road Tolls | Toronto part of ‘transnational mega-region’ | Vancouver to import road tolls from UK | UK proposes national road tolls to cut congestion | Motorists to pay London toll
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
[...] | See Also under Travel: Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
[...] ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK |Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | Software blocks car phone users | Mobile [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 11:20 am
[...] is being used as a pretext to chain the citizens of the world with a host of new carbon taxes and onerous legislation. (In fact, many of the scientists whose names are associated with the IPCC report really [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
[...] promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | UK: Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four – complete with CPS evidence kit | Oregon [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 am
[...] ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | Metrolinx Proposes Satellite Vehicle [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
[...] promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | UK: Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four – complete with CPS evidence kit | Oregon [...]
May 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | UK Culture secretary wants international [...]
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | UK: Big Brother CCTV to spy on pupils aged four – complete with CPS evidence kit | Oregon [...]
December 14th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
[...] Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked [...]
December 30th, 2009 at 7:38 am
[...] Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked [...]
March 5th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
[...] Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked [...]