Speed limiters on cars: the answer to road safety and congestion?
By Dave Parrack
Driving a vehicle is something a large proportion of us do on a daily basis without ever thinking of the harm it is, or could be, doing. Could speed limiters on cars, currently being trialled on public transport in London, be the solution, improving road safety, traffic congestion, and carbon emissions at a stroke?
Speed limits on roads obviously exist for a reason – they are in line with the surrounding area to help motorists drive safely, they protect pedestrians in built-up areas, they ease traffic congestion by keeping vehicles moving – but despite this, many of us drive faster than we should at any available opportunity.
In an effort to enforce the speed limits more readily, Transport for London, the organization in charge of public transport in England’s capital city, are trialling a system known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA). According to BBC News, ISA devices will initially be fitted on a bus, a taxi, and 20 of its own vehicles.
ISA has two settings. The first just informs the driver of their speed in relation to the limit on the stretch of road they are traveling down. The second, potentially more controversial setting automates the system and manually overrides the car’s controls if a speed limit is reached or exceeded. In this case, putting your foot down hard on the accelerator while driving at the speed limit would have absolutely no effect.
The system works via satellite tracking of the vehicle used in conjunction with a digital road map. ISA detects the speed limit of each stretch of road and compensates for the driver’s actions. The trial is due to last six months and a positive result could see London buses and taxis required by law to fit the devices.
The benefits of this technology are clearly numerous, helping to reduce traffic accidents, congestion, and the environmental cost of driving. However, will those be enough to persuade private car owners to adopt the system in any great number when it goes on sale next year? I very much doubt it. And if so, will we all eventually turn into zombies on the road?
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