January 26, 2006
Big Brother vs. Speeding
American Spectator: Make Speeding Impossible?
Like tearing off that sticker on mattresses that warns us not to “under penalty of law,” most of us don’t pay much attention to speed limits. Five to ten over is the rule, not the exception — as any survey of average traffic speeds will confirm. We vote with our right foot every time we get behind the wheel, countermanding the diktats of the local bureaucrats who erect limits well below what large majorities (better than 85 percent, if you want an actual figure based upon actual traffic surveys) of us consider reasonable rates of travel.
But what if driving faster than our masters want us to became an impossibility?
For years, this has been The Dream of safety-badger types, who equate any deviance from often arbitrarily set posted speed limits with mowing down small children in a gigantic SUV with really loud mufflers, one hand on the wheel, the other clutching a half-empty fifth of Jack Daniel’s. They pushed for mechanical governors (which never flew) and even managed, briefly, to get a law passed that required all new cars to be fitted with speedometers that read no faster than 85 mph (really).
Now, however, the technology exists for a great leap forward — or backward, depending on your point of view.
The Canadians are testing out a system that pairs onboard Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology with a digital speed limit map. It works very much like the in-car GPS navigation systems that have become so common on late model cars — but with a twist. Instead of helping you find a destination, the system prevents you from driving any faster than the posted speed limit of the road you happen to be on.
And I’m sure this technology will never be used for tracking individual Americans, right? When the majority of Americans completely ignore a law, shouldn’t it be a signal that it’s a bad law?
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If this ever does happen in the U.S., mechanics will jump for joy, because there will instantly be a huge off the books (i.e.- tax free) business that will spring up to remove these devices.
Some rental car companies are already in the business of collecting fees based on GPS signals that record time/distance ratios to determine if the driver was speeding. Many cities have unmaned camera equiped radar units to send out speeding tickets and red light violations. The use of GPS to issue speeding tickets would be interesting, not very welcome, just interesting.
When I was in the “blue” I never once used radar to issue a speeding ticket; instead, I only went after those who had doubled the posted speed limit, those who stood out and then some as being wreckless toward everyone else. I never understood the cops who went after the average 10-15 over the posted limit kind of speeders since, as you stated, about 80% of the public is aware that posted speed limits are put up arbitrarily and are far too conservative for most folks. Can you say, wealth redistribution?
In many towns speed limits are revenue earning methods. Most roads really need varying speed limits. A 7-9 am and 4-6pm speed limit, a higher middle of the day speed limit, and an even higher late at night speed limit would exist for most roads if safety were really the concern.
I’m going to get beaten up for this, but I think this technology should be employed, with mandatory retrofit on every vehicle on the road. We can’t get this fast enough!
I’d make one little tweak to the system, however. Instead of limiting the vehicle’s maximum speed to the speed limit, it needs to ensure that the vehicle MAINTAINS the speed limit. My commute would be a fraction of what it is now if people would get off the brake and drive at the posted speed!
I’m guessing that jaywalking would slow to a trickle.