Speed Limiters Now Mandatory In All New EU Cars
"Cars have been able to figure out when they're speeding for a while, thanks to GPS as well as traffic sign recognition, and they've also been able to pump the brakes automatically when needed. Having a computer automatically slow down a car in response to posted speed limits, therefore, was not really a question of technical feasibility for some time -- but mandating it has been a question of political will. That political will has materialized in the European Union, and starting July 7 all new cars sold in the EU will feature intelligent speed assistance (ISA) systems..."
The EU law will leave it to manufacturers how to respond to the speed-awareness of the new cars; that will allow a range of possibilities from alerting the driver to automatically initiating speed reduction. So, probably not a guarantee of any drastic reduction in speed-related incidents, but a start at least.
The EU law points to the fact that currently available technology opens up a lot of possibilities. They are probably not as great as is implied by every TV police procedural which seems to enable law enforcement to instantly monitor the location of any car on the road. However, there are some more modest possibilities which could make life in cities a bit more bearable.
One possibility would be monitoring of horn honks. There are times when a slap at the horn is an important resource for avoiding collisions or worse, but those events are pretty rare. A reasonable standard might be to allow everyone three or four free honks. On the fourth or fifth honk, the recorded infraction might generate a small fine -- say a dollar.
The next honk could double the fee, and so on. A dashboard display could provide immediate feedback. When the fee got up to around $100, perhaps the car's engine could by rendered incapable of speeds over 30mph. Or, maybe a requirement could be transmitted to the MVD when license renewal is due to test the horn-happy for psychopathology.
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