Dangerous as hell. Imagine there’s a runaway truck behind you and you can’t speed up to avoid or at least soften the collision because of some government enforced handicap.
It would also give local governments a power they never had before: To directly control your behavior in the moment, with no judicial control or oversight.
Interval cameras (checking your speed over a length of road, using ANPR) are very effective at slowing traffic in the UK. Although you still get people in expensive cars driving 20mph faster than others; maybe undeterred by fines, or using false plates.
The system can tell you if there was a runaway truck (at your time and location), so an appeal should be easy for that uncommon situation.
I like that solution much better. I find that a driver should always be free to make a cost/benefit calculation. The ideal, in my view, would look something like this:
- Speed of every car on the road is recorded continuously.
- If you stay within the limit, you pay nothing.
For each second that you are faster than the limit, you incur some financial penalty, where the amount is calculated based on both the speed difference and the purpose of the limit (pedestrian safety vs. noise pollution, for example). In extreme cases, you can lose your drivers license.
- Speed data is also made available to your insurance. So drivers know they won’t get away with somebody else paying for any damage they may cause.
As a driver, I very much prefer this not to exist. But I think it would be the right thing from a “veil of ignorance” perspective of justice.
I don’t care about this particular edge case. The idea of being remote controlled by buerocrats is appalling to me.
I live in Europe. Regulations here make Teslas slam on the brakes when the road is curved by more than x degrees, and break off a lane change apruptly if they take longer than x seconds. The intentions behind these rules written by some buerocrat in Brussels surely were as good as those behind the cookie banner.
I’m glad I still get to override those rules with my pedals and steering wheel.
That’s a “think of the children” type of an argument. Remind me: how many people die because of guns every day in the US? On a serious note, how many of those road accidents are caused by exceeding the speed by less than 10%? You see, there is a difference between speeding and reckless driving.
Neither you nor me live in the US. They have other options to reduce those deaths. There’s no reason to drive a 4 ton EV truck made out of stainless steel doing 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds.
Knowing exactly which lane you're in and the actual speed limit of that particular lane can be tricky for an automated system, at least in any of the systems I've seen implemented.
I've had cars with both automated speed limit sign readers, GPS+map databases, and more show me two different speed limits and neither one was actually correct for the lane I was in. This is a somewhat common occurrence on the highways around me.
That would risk unintended consequences. For example, suddenly slowing cars on the highway down to 30 kph because a small road with that speed limit runs right next to the highway.
This becomes a thing and I'll have a 25mph sign hanging off the back of my truck. I eagerly await starting a youtube channel of new cars losing their shit on jammed tailgating attempts.
Or in Germany, if you live in the village, put up a 60 sign by your driveway and when confronted just say someone is having their 60th birthday… Germans for whatever reason like putting up a speed limit signs by their driveway when celebrating birthdays.
As long as it’s accurate. The current technical implementation is a joke. The car has no idea what the speed limit is.
A few examples:
1) drive past the end of town sign in a particular German town, the car thinks it is 30kph, but only during the day because at night it doesn’t see the sign so it thinks it’s 50 where in reality it’s a 100 until the next speed limit,
2) driving between a couple of roundabouts inside of a town in the Netherlands, the car thinks it’s 30kph even though we stay within city limits and there’s no sign so the speed limit remains 50kph,
3) this is the funniest one so far… driving in Antwerpen along the Turhoutsebaan, there’s a massive 30 sign painted on a red painted road surface, the car insists that the speed limit is 50kph.
Those are just three out of a dozen examples happening consistently within 30 square kilometres I normally remain within. And I drive this car for 2.5 weeks. I have seen the future and I don’t like it. Number 2) happens routinely inside of the city limits after right or left turn. Car drops the speed limit to 30 just to realise a 100m down the road that it is 50.
Apologies for the ad hominem, I normally stay away from such tone. I genuinely hope that such pseudo cops like you get a grip. Because it’s my life you’re talking about and I already use speed limiter routinely. Every idiot around me on the road has exactly the same choice as me: curb the ego down and slow down or behave like a douche.
> but it would be even better if all cars' speed were automatically limited to the speed limit of each road
Yeah, you just described the ISA of 2027. This is going to be a tough year for car manufacturers. I forecast a ton of unsold new cars remaining on parking lots because one has to be really technically illiterate to buy something so dangerous willingly. Either full self driving or give full control. Everything in between is a disaster waiting to happen.
By the way, here’s a funny thought. So what is going to happen when that mythical zero casualties is reached and more people will be dying on bicycles than in car accidents? An implant in the brain? Where does it stop?
> So what is going to happen when that mythical zero casualties is reached and more people will be dying on bicycles than in car accidents?
I don't think anything will need to happen at that point. We wouldn't need to tackle down the top causes of death if the numbers were low, as seems to be the case of bicycle deaths not caused by cars. And when it comes to speeding, it's already against the law, so the technology is only trying to help prevent it. But of course, my enthusiasm is tied to a future where this technology works reliably, so I don't really expect anything like it with all the problems you're describing with current models.
The problem is that it doesn’t matter what you think, or what I think. What matters is what the bureaucrat in Brussels thinks. The bureaucrat doesn’t care. They are driven everywhere and fly on their private jets.
It’s also illegal to participate in the traffic drunk yet I routinely see drunk people riding bicycles and scooters in regular traffic, often ignoring traffic lights, often with their face glued to a phone. That’s half a problem, the other problem is those same people with those same things on the sidewalk. I bet you, a ton of those people do not even have a driving license and/or understanding of traffic rules. Humans will be humans. First they cry for cycling paths, when they get them, they don’t use them. Cannot win stupid.
As a pedestrian in the city I want scooters and bicycles regulated AND enforced. But nobody cares. I stopped counting how many times I have to do acrobatics to walk around scooters and bicycles left in the middle of the sidewalk.
This summer Apple Maps believed I teleported 200m into a corn field for long enough it told me to return to the route. The location kept updating, moving in parallel to my real location.
What is the speed limit in that field?
Would a car suffer from similar problems? Should it continue at the original rate of speed or slam the brakes?
Huge privacy violation. I would just close down this business. Unfortunately it's a state cartel, and even part owner. They'll change the constitution to save those criminals
