A car that slows you down

Vehicles in London could soon be fitted with technology that would automatically slow them down if they break the speed limit.

Transport For London, or TFL, said it is investigating the technology and plans to run a trial next year in an attempt to cut road traffic deaths.

"We've got to the point where we need to look at new ways of reducing road deaths. This technology exists in the early stages of development, and we are looking at this now," a TFL representative told Silicon.com

A trial of speed-limiting technology is likely to take place next year with 10 TFL vehicles. The idea is that if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit, the engine revs are automatically limited so that it slows down again.

Motorists often claim that they are speeding because they don't know the limit in a particular area. But this would no longer be an excuse if their GPS satellite navigation system could alert them to changes in speed limit as they drive.

TFL is working on a map of the speed limits in London, which could then be loaded into satellite navigation systems.

"We are working with Ordnance Survey to come up with a digital speed-limit map," the TFL representative said. "There are so many variations of speed across the capital, we need to get that map sorted."

Another potential use is to equip buses with the technology. The TFL spokesman said: "If you are behind a bus that can't break the speed limit, then you can't break the speed limit."

Separately, The Times is reporting that speed cameras will start taking digital photographs of speeding drivers' faces, in order to crack down on motorists who try to evade fines by claiming that someone else was driving their car.

Steve Ranger of Silicon.com reported from London.

[mike.gw]

Not here in America!

Can you imagine if someone was injured or killed because they couldn't operate their car as needed for a given situation? Speeding up past the limit to avoid a pending collision. Exceeding the limit to get to a hospital because someone in the car is sick or injured.

There are better ways to use technology to keep us safe in our cars. I don't think this example is the best use of technology for that purpose.

[epiccollision]

can you imagine?

THE NUMBER OF LIVES IT WOULD SAVE, oh my lets not inconveience people(the real point of your comment)...driving is a privlegde not a right...your arugment settles on an extreme circumstances that realistcally only happens in a few cases...how many times have you used your vechicle to render assitance to a dying or sickly friend...call a ambulance...but luckily it will never happen in america...call it a sort of natural selection.

[markxpii]

GPS Errors

I have lost count of the times the GPS will tell you that you are on a parallel road. Often times one will have a 15 mph limit and the other has a 65 mph limit - tell me that that won't cause a few deaths on the freeway!

[Dave_Brown]

Stupid idea.

This is a terrible idea. I totally agree with the first poster.

1. You need control of your vehicle to be able to avoid collisions, etc.
2. Good luck passing someone who is going slightly slower then the speed limit.
3 It will give the government the ability to monitor where everyone goes. More big brother.
4. Why would anyone purchase a car that goes faster then the speed limit if they cannot use it? Let's spend $50K+ on a vehicle that will only go 100kph (or 55mph). I'm sure the automobile industry would love this.

Speed is not the only factor in road deaths. Speed in itself is not a killer. It's driver's who don't know how to drive properly that is the problem. IE. Drunk drivers, people who run red lights, don't check sidewalks for pedestrians when entering an intersection, don't signal or check their blind spot when changing lanes, etc. You can still kill a pedestrian while travelling at relatively slow speeds. Are we not concerned about them? Or do we just care about deaths of drivers? Better driver training would be beneficial for everyone!

[CancerMan2]

Slow Drivers Should Be Forced To Speed Up

Slow drivers cause accidents too. It's only fair that if Mr. Big is forced to slow down, then Granny should be forced to speed up.

[BlueBearr]

Makes sense for fleet vehicles

This would make sense for fleet vehicles, especially if implementing this meant some protection from liability in case of accident ("see, yer Honor, I *couldn't* have been speeding when this crummy car went off the road"). Maybe the teamsters would like it too - force companies to allow drivers sufficient time to deliver loads because they can't speed.

However, there legitimate reasons to speed in some cases (like in accident avoidance). I'm sure the media will have a great time finding and exploiting these exceptions.

[saadshaheed]

Great Idea - there must be a Limit

This is a great idea if it's well planned and implemented. Yes it can be a great inconvenience, but the world does not revolve around each of us. We share our roads with millions of other drivers, all of whom have different lives, priorities and objectives. Despite that we still share the roads with them , and as one poster said, having a license to drive is a privilege.

It's like being a father. Anyone can have sex and make a child (get in a car and drive), but how many of us take care of the child (take responsibility of and for our driving)?

My point is, we all think our problems are bigger than anyone else's, and that our inconvenience is the worse thing that can happen. That kind of thinking is very wrong, everthing in God's universe has a right to be where they are at any given point, what they are doing there is a matter for debate; ie nothing is wrong with going to the bank, however going to the bank to rob it... well you get what I mean.

If there is technology that allows us to control certain things that we don't think about because of how we are feeling at that point in time, then why not use it. I mean when we are angry, we never even see the speedometer, or the driver we just cut off when we swerved in front of them. And then when we are happy, we're invincible, we crank up the stereo - 'Like a bat out of hell', and we actually look at the speedometer and our smile widens.

Think about it. Do we always trust ourselves do what's right? Do we control our emotions or do our emotions control us? Do we signal before we change lanes, or are we afraid that when do that, the other drivers will cut us off?

We need to be less selfish, and more humane.

[farkenstein]

Why stop there?

REally, the cars should be communicating wirelessly to prevent driver collisions. I think it was Japan where something like this was being studied in the context of preventing bottlenecks in traffic flow.

[Babs & Coco]

What idiot would agree with this?

big brother is obviously alive and kicking in our motherland. no thanks to anything like that here in the U.S. it's enough that our government tries to justify infringing upon my personal liberties, not to mention the freaking idiots who actually agree with it, thinking it will really weed out terrorists. how ignorant and unpatriotic to hand over the rights that we are supposedly trying to protect.

[MrHandle]

Way Too Dangerous

There's times when you need to hit the gas pedal to avoid a collision. Taking that control away from people would be extremely dangerous in my view. I think improved collision avoidance systems and other "intelligent" road systems would be much more sensible. It's good to see I'm not the only one who feels this way by far.

[saadshaheed]

Acceletrating in an emergency

How very true. There are indeed times when acceleration is necessary to avoid a collision.

But like I pointed out, with proper planning and implementation, this technology can still allow that kind of acceleration from a car - (even though I did not elaborate).

Here's the twist, so you accelerate to avoid the collision, but for how long do you maintain that higher speed after the avoiding a potential disaster? 1 minute... 2, 10... an hour?

What I'm saying is that the cars can be set up to allow this flexibility.

But do we need a car that goes 160 mph, unless we are a race car driver?

[Jimm1]

Get Real

If this goes through, and I'm sure it will eventually (see red light cameras, speed trap cameras), then the speed limits need to be made realistic.
Many places have 45MPH speed limits on wide, open, straight roads with little or no traffic. Speed limits should be set at the 80th percentile of traffic, or the speed at which 80% of the cars travel. Speed trap cities should be clamped down on, and fines lowered.
By the way, what are you going to do about the millions of cars without this tech?

[Dave_Brown]

GPS Tracking

Isn't there a way to limit the speeds of vehicles without monitoring via satellite? The system needs to be less invasive. I don't need the government knowing where I go. I have nothing to hide but it's also none of their business if I'm visiting my friend's house or visiting a brothel. If it truly is speed they (the government) are concerned with and not monitoring/tracking people then this system is not what is required.

[NFelsman]

Good Idea, but GPS isn't the way to go...

GPS is too invasive and there's too much room for equipment failure or error.

What needs to happen is cars shouldn't be made to go over say 75 or 85 MPH. Is there a good reason a car is able to go 120MPH? Nope. Limiting the speed of a car to a max of even 85 would save so many lives.

In a dream world, everone would follow the rules of the road and go the speed limit. But that ain't gonna happen. So until cars can drive themselves, there's no reason why we can't limit the speed a car can go.

As for the accelerating to avoid collisions point, If everyone was going the same speed and following the rules of the road, this wouldn't even be necessary. Drive the speed limit, keep proper following distance (learned in Drivers ED), signal BEFORE you turn (not AS you turn), and check your blind spots.

But, like I said, that's a dream world, there's too many people in the world that either don't care or they think they're above following the rules of the road.

Put a limit on how fast cars can drive and require Drivers Education is all states and car accidents would probably decrease significantly.

[iamcolorblind]

Insurance Discounts

If these devices were made optional in your car then Insurance
companies could offer major insurance discounts for people with
the devices installed. Sort of like the Ultimate Safe-Driver discount.
If it cut my insurance in half, I'd consider putting one in my car. I'd
save on gas too. It could easily turn into a big-brother situation if
they were mandated, but if they were optional I think it could work.

[Webacco CEO]

In Florida...

There was actually a law proposed to force people driving the speed limit to get out of the fast lane. We need something like that nationwide. If the slow were in one lane and the fast in the other, that would decrease accidents. People would not get in collisions over speed differences. Also, it would reduce the need for lane changes, as passing wouldn't be neccessary. People will always want speed, limit where in the road people can drive, not how fast.

[Cerbera79]

Attention!

It seems to me that the less I actually have to drive, the less I pay attention. My driving habits actually seem to improve above 80-90mph. I feel more focused and certianly am not prepared to answer my cell phone. It's only when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic, being shoehorned into a slot that allows me no movement, that I feel free to answer my phone or daydream and seem to have my "close calls." Maybe the answer isn't getting people to slow down, but rather simply to "pay attention."

[willdryden]

Won't happen here

I can not see local governments (I. E. city and county) permitting something like that in the U. S. It would cut their revenue so bad, they would have to raise taxes. Besides, all the traffic enforcement police would have to chase down real criminals.

[Mit100]

Speed Control

I totally agree with most everyone here. You must have control of your car's speed at all times. Now IF and only IF ALL the cars on the road were so equipped, then and only then might this idea work. Also, we must start a very strong campain of driver education and get people of their damn cell phones and pay total attention to driving. Thank you and please get off the cell phone and stop trying to kill someone. Drive as if your's and everyone elses life depended on it.

Thank you,

TUKGA

[reachsneaker]

Dynamic Speedometer

Dynamic Speedometer: Dashboard Redesign to Discourage Drivers from Speeding

We apply HCI design principles to redesign the dashboard of the automobile to address the problem of speeding. We prototyped and evaluated a new speedometer designed with the explicit intention of changing drivers? speeding behavior. Our user-tests show that displaying the current speed limit as part of the speedometer visualization (i.e. the dynamic speedometer) results in safer driving behavior. Designing with the intent to achieve a particular behavior can be an effective approach for increasing the safety of mission-critical systems. This is an area in which HCI designers can have a significant impact.

For more information see: http://hci.stanford.edu/research/speedometer.html

[C Sq]

Individual Decisions Are Unreliable and Useless

It is about time for this technology to arrive and it is way too late but better now than never. Individuals have no sense of their responsibility to themselves and others. Individuals wonder around nonsensically making decisions on everything from how fast they will drive, what vehicles they choose to own, the home they will own, children they will have and on it goes. Never once considering how these individual decisions impact the world?s population and events. It is about time we developed a sense of responsibility and turned decision making over to those capable of actually making decision, such as intelligent individual academics, leaders and machines that are programmed with appropriate algorithms. Then and only then will our government and our very existence make sense.