The EU wants to fit all cars with speed controllers.

A pathetic problematic new law from rich morons who are only ever chauffeur driven in jags and mercs.
More drivel from those who do not live in OUR world

We're entering an age where being a machine would be an advantage. There're so many rules nowadays. So many classes you have to pass. You have to sit patiently and absorb like a good boy.

Before long everyone will want the body/mind modifications and latest gizmos to keep up.

Be like living in a tight and stuffy over regulated mega city. Like prison.

I have to wonder if living in such a confined way with inflexible rules will cause us to go insane or if it will cause us to become like machines or maybe it'll cause some of us to leave earth to escape all of it. However, I suspect that leaving will cause a war as earth tries to control those who leave.

I'll use the same argument I use over here in Australia

When the speed limits where set in place back in god only knows the 100Kph was probably a good limit for the cars and average driver ability

these days the cars handle and drive so much better, I honestly think most accidents hi-way related are induced by boredom induced fatigue, ill admit I speed on the hi-way 110-120kph and since you have to pay that slight more attention I notice a lot of smaller things on the road eg small pot holes etc since you not just daydreaming as you drive

A traffic management control system for congested areas could actually move more traffic at faster speeds. Speeding up scared slow drivers and slowing down maniacs would help, but just slowing people down with out a network that is aware of all autos locations & speeds would be dumb.

Originally posted by VoidHawk
SAY NO!!!

We have them in our lorries, we cant go over 56mph.

Suppose your overtaking and a situation arises where you need to put your foot down to reach to safety!

We have them here too. The problem with that argument if that you're not supposed to exceed the speed limit under any circumstances. Even when overtaking (although everyone does it because it IS safer if you spend less time on the wrong side of the road).

The reason they haven't been introduced in cars is simple. Nobody is going to spend any decent amount of money on a new car that their mates are going to laugh at.

The truck speed governors have made this device a 'must have' for all serious heavy rig operators.
FasterTruck
'Company owned' prime movers often have their max speed turned down by the owners under the impression that slower truck = greater safety.

The equivalent unit for passenger cars would likely be available within weeks of rolling out 'governed' cars = huge market.

I know this isn't completely on topic, but it is something I realized while I was forced to ride a bicycle and / or utilize public transportation for an extended period of time in the not-so-distant-past.

As I was forced to very carefully manage my time because I didn't have the option to drive, I came to the realization that if I did manage my time and get to work using my body and / or public transportation, there was much more time for me to think about what was going on around me, what I was doing, what I could do.

What I saw, was people hurrying around, while I was pretty much relaxed. I had to do what I had to do like anyone else did, but I was forced to use my body which made me feel better, and forced to accept the passage of time and the coverage of distance at a slower pace, which really taught me how to relax again. I couldn't take on more work because of my transportation limitations, but I wasn't wasting resources by driving, paying insurance and maintaining a vehicle, eating fast food and all of the other silliness that accompanies blindly rushing around in a panic, as , from my perspective, it all appeared to look.

It cost me so little to get by without the expense of driving that for the first time many in years I found myself with plenty of money, and plenty of time to enjoy myself, and a very clear view / perspective of the world which wasn't so ugly as the one referred to as the rat race...(Imagine an intersection with a bunch of snarling rats lined up at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green)...Many times while waiting for a bus at the far side of a certain intersection, I stepped behind a light pole for fear one of the rats would lose control when the starting gate dropped / opened, I was literally afraid of being hit many times...

What occurred to me as I was pedaling down the side of the road passing drivers waiting for a light / or stop sign, as I listened to them talking and complaining about how others were driving, just audibly bitching for anyone to hear about whatever, was that those people were really venting about being taken advantage of yet blaming someone else for their predicament.

Cars and personal transportation are nothing more than a way to make you feel free while being used to generate a profit and allow us to overextend ourselves and do more than we should have to for less return than we are entitled to for our labor, and we pay to do it dearly.

I don't mean to be rude or offensive, but grow a damned brain already. Freedom isn't free, but freedom isn't anything anyone really enjoys anyway. The majority work on arrogant assumptions, using flawed logic developed thru conditioning and abuse by people who either don't know the truth, or use the truth against you for profit.

You see, driving is like sitting in a recliner in front of the TV, just with stress added. Gee, why could it be that so many are so unhealthy in this world, I still look upon it in wonder, as I just rode 40 miles yesterday and witnessed it first hand again.

I think being forced to slow down would be a good thing for most of you busy-bodies, and I do mean most people actually are busy bodies, really, you are. A problem cannot be remedied until it is acknowledged to be a problem.
If you don't like all of the rules and expense involved with driving, stop driving and adding to the traffic you so loudly complain about being stuck in, you are part of the problem.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Right, well thats all very well, but good luck retro fitting vintage models to that specification.

I have always maintained that if and when I do, eventually get around to learning to drive, I will not be buying some fancy thing with an iPod connector and a wifi hook up. I will purchase the most beat up, jalopy looking hunk of vintage scrap I can find, fix it up myself, and have the freedom of an actual mechanical brake and accelerator. It will have chrome trim. It will have a proper face, and I will be the only person who has any control over its speed, course, and all the other parametres which a driver is required to look after.

There is, in short, no damned way I will ever hand over control of my life or death to some upstart computer with delusions of common sense.

Great idea! Now if we could get handsfree telephones mandatory in all cars, with DRAGON-like software to voice recognizing our texts to send and read by talking them out....we'd have more time to put on makeup and eat while reading and watching the onboard DVD player...while steering!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do government cars, (including police), get the limiters too? In any case, a black market business of retrofitting or modifying these limiters would spring up overnight.

They have shown in university studies that posted limits are actually around 10 MPH below that the safest speed is, therefore people will often drive ten over to get into the "safety zone". They determined this by calculating accidents/speed in many areas. Finding that more accidents happen 10 MPH below, and about 20 MPH above the posted limits.

This means that posted limits are often engineered to be unsafe, encouraging people to speed and get nicked by the ticketmasters.

There was a reason photo-radar systems were booted out of so many places. (Because they worked with 100% efficiency.) The speed/ticket for $$$ system is a joke. This is one step further in the lunacy...

Originally posted by boncho
Do government cars, (including police), get the limiters too?

In any case, a black market business of retrofitting or modifying these limiters would spring up overnight.

Here if you know the right mechanic, you can have your truck governor disabled for a carton of beer.

reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner


You obviously live in a city, you know, that magical place where food just appears in the grocery store and everything is easy to find.

But what about us rural folk? We need transportation to get from Point A to Point B. You won't find public transportation to willing to stop by the local lumber yard when you have to repair your fence line. And a bike won't cut it either.

People on bicycles pull dumb @$$ moves all the time on the road as well. You've admitted to this. You throw something at me and your puny dog repellent will not save you as it would just anger me even more.

But I do get what you are saying. There are a lot of people out there who should not be driving, as there are a lot of people who should not be riding a bike.

Back on topic; my view is that the nanny state can shove it where the sun don't shine.