The satellite-based system will monitor the speed limit and apply the brakes or cut o
 

Forget cameras - spy device will cut drivers’ speed by satellite
Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent



IT IS the ultimate back seat driver. Motorists face having their cars fitted with a “spy” device that stops speeding.
The satellite-based system will monitor the speed limit and apply the brakes or cut out the accelerator if the driver tries to exceed it. A government-funded trial has concluded that the scheme promotes safer driving.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1678707,00.html

It's gona be a Brave New World out there...

I have a 5% stake in a UK Company that is developing a system that

1. Can be a pay per mile Auto insurance system
2. Auto theft device
3. Can be a pay per road mile usage syatem

This company has allready signed several European Auto manufacturers up to install their device in their cars and the UK Auto Insurers have approved the system...the next and logical step is to get the US Auto Insureres to approved the system, and they have to take it seriousily becuase of the UK Insurers approval....so it's just a matter of time....

latley I have thrown out the new Porsche Brochures and have been looking at the ones for Gulfstreams.....

"latley I have thrown out the new Porsche Brochures and have been looking at the ones for Gulfstreams....."

We shall henceforce refer to you as "The Tabs"

Wouldnt it make more sense to just send you the ticket in the mail and sell your driving record to the car insurance companies than to actually promote safety. How can the state extort money from you with driving programs if you are prevented from speeding?

sorry about that. Taking the tin foil hat off now.

Electronic speed limiting is common in the trucking industry. Most limited big rigs are set at 65 or 70 mph.

Yet another reason to drive an older (and simpler) car...

I believe Airbus tried something similar for their planes. In the case of if a pilot tried to make a drastic move the plane would not let him. Most of the plane was automated, this resulted in many crashes from pilots trying to correct the "plane's" mistake.

Won't work...your older car WILL be retrofitted or you won't be able to pump gas into it. How do I know this? A local talk show had just this topic as it's main subject today. The substitute host on today's "Lars Larson" show was Oregon State Representative Jeff Kropf. The Oregon Dept. of Transportation is seeking $2,000,000 from the legislature for a 300 car "pilot program". If this program becomes full force? Every gas station will be required to have a gadget that reads whether or not a car has this unit. No unit, no gas. Rep. Kropf, on the show, said he'll try to kill the pilot program before it breeds, but doesn't know if he'll be able to. More info gleaned from the show? There are many in the Oregon legislature who think this is a peachy keen idea. The usual suspects "representing" Portland for the most part. As I've said before...welcome to the people's republic of Orygun...if this becomes law, I'll probably move to Nevada...NOT the Vegas area...can't stand the all gambling disneyland towns. (edit) So, if any who read this think it's a problem for the Brits among us? Don't kid yourselves...I'm sure the same thing is being discussed at the state level in states other than Oregon. Here, it's being touted as merely a way to track how far a car travels, in order to more efficiently collect road use taxes. A GPS unit that can measure speed, location and direction would be used ONLY to collect taxes? Sure, I believe that...and I believe in the tooth fairy as well.

My unit to buy gas will be a custom tank taking up the majority of the truck bed. Then I'll go home and pump it into my real cars.

At one time all Mercedes and BMWs in Europe were speed limited. I think 155 was the limit. The system was never used in the states becuse they knew we didn't drive very fast and they didn't want to spend the money. I'm not sure if they still do this or not.

Richard

People from out of state will not be able to buy gas...

I think the 155 mph limit on MBs and BMWs is ROW. I'm not at all opposed to this, simply because there are so few non-dangerous opportunities to drive over 155 on populated streets. So maybe this can be an insurance benefit for very fast Mercedes Benz and BMW cars - I don't know.

As for PW's explanation - Christ! What the hell is next? GPS is in our cell phones, Homeland Security would like to know what books you buy and check out from the library. All this crap just makes me more of a libertarian. I'll let you guys know when I'm well situated in my shack in no-man's land with my mountain bike parked out on my porch. Just don't mind the guns...

Guys,

Speed limiters in the high end BMWs and M-B are about 'good citizenship' and 'showing restraint'. Its voluntary and makes no difference to anybody (insurance or law enforcement wise). Its gesture towards a certain politicla party in Germany who wanted to impose draconian speed limits on Autobahns. Its is 155mph and all BMWs and M-Bs that can exceed this have them fitted for the European market.

Airbus and Boeing (as well as others) make aircraft whose control is completely dependent on computers, usually a odd number.
The pilot 'requests' via the flight deck controls the flight computer reconfigure the flight surfaces to carry out a manoeuvre, say a bank. The computer assess that demnad, such as the rate of change of heading demanded, bank angle requested and compares it to pre set limits. If the limits are exceeded then the max allowed sent to the flight control. If a manoeuvre requested is not in te pre loaded parameters then the closest one is carried out.

However both Boeing and Airbus have discovered that no matter how vast the preploaded database there are always some new ones discovered by pilots in the air...leading to some disasters...

In terms of cars, both McLaren and Ferrari have road cars (the F1 and FXX) which are in constant contact with the facotry. We all have mobile phones that when on constantly broadcast and recieve locational information. How many of us have GPS navigational systems or fixed camera location trackers?.

All the technology exists and is working, the missing piece is integration of these systems and the delivery of the data to 'Government' in the mane of 'road safety' or law enforcement or other 'for your own good and betterment' excuse...

Hell credit card companies are already track you and your life in detail via the credit card expenditure, they know more about you than you do...why should government get in on the act?

Is this a real or rhetorical question?

Big Brother is watching.

dd,


rhetorical...

If their ability matched their ambitions to control us then we'd truely be stuffed.

Sadlt tho' I think it will be insurance companies who begin to offer discounts to motorists who have such 'Big Brother' monitoring equipment...and once lots of people have taken it on, those who refuse it will be penalised thro higher and higher premiums until they are such a small number that Government can safely (ie at little or no risk to their re-election chances) make is illegal not to have one..

Cynical? Not me.....



Really....

And cops in the UK now have access to Road Tax and Insurance databases so they can nick you by just keying your number into the computer as you drive by....

Yay Vewrily

From an article about the BMW M5......

With 507bhp of power, 520Nm of torque, a top speed limited to 155mph and a 0-62mph time of 4.7 seconds, much of the media talk has been about the option to de-restrict the top speed of the M5. BMW say their top management in Germany has taken the responsible ‘high ground’ and stuck to the general industry agreement that 155mph should be the top speed available. However other manufacturers have broken away from this agreement and BMW say they have no power over any customer wishing to have their car de-restricted to achieve the 204mph of which it is capable. BMW confirmed that by de-restricting the car it would not invalidate the car’s warranty. Lee Connolly said, "In reality having a de-restricted car is all about customer talk, fashion and a ‘mine’s de-restricted’ attitude – it is an emotional thing to have it. If the car is being used for track days or motorsport that is a different issue but outside Germany where can you use a car at that speed?"

Exactly!

No problem...covered in the talk show. "Foreign" plates will pay a per gallon tax as now. That is, until neighboring states adopt the plan, then all info is shared. Gee, this talk show is broadcast in Eugene, since there are conservatives down there. I was forturnate enough to run into both of them some years ago...;)

Where else? Italy and France, for sure. Neither the gendarmes nor the polizia seem to bother much with high-speed traffic, if they're not causing problems. I don't know about 200mph, but I saw more than a couple of PDQ cruisers comin' past blinkin' their high beams.

As to Germany, I'd be amazed if you could get up to 200mph there -- between traffic and road construction ......

I don't really care...All I care abut is that the Dividend Check arrives on time...

French speeding is a Russian roulette game - they are very keen to reduce high numbers of road deaths and will fine heavily, confiscate driving license, impound the car and impose prison sentences to drivers who flout the law.

France and Italy will use Autoroute/Autostrada toll times to impose fines to EU car drivers.
France has installed permanent radar sites (a government web site shows where they are) and has always used remote wire and hand held detectors.
On my trip last December to Bergerac, I photographed a small white van with a small camera/flash installation in the rear door and special black-out strips across the rear window.
Advice by a restaurant owner near a new stretch of Autoroute in Normandy was to stick with the limits because of my German car which the police hate.
In italy the Carbinarie (armed with sub machine guns) perform traffic duties.

French rules....
Speed limits: standard legal limits (varied by signs) for private vehicles without trailers: built-up areas 31mph (50km/h), outside built-up areas 55mph (90km/h), but 68mph (110km/h) on dual carriageways separated by a central reservation and 80mph (130km/h) on motorways. Lower speed limits apply in wet weather and to visiting motorists who have held a driving licence for less than two years: 49mph (80km/h) outside built-up areas, 62mph (100km/h) on dual carriageways and 68mph (110km/h) on motorways.

Important France driving tip: holders of EU driving licences who exceed the speed limit by more than 24mph (40km/h) will have their licences confiscated immediately by the police.

How odd -- the laws and stance on enforcement compared with my last drives through both France and Italy. We only did Normandy to Belgium, so perhaps my data sample is too small, but the French traffic seemed to be substantially quicker than what we were doing.

For all the French quickness, however, the Italians were simply amazing. Dad would say, "Look, a Lotus!" And by the time I could swivel my head to see, he was just tail-lights out in front of us. The Autostrada wasn't the crazy part, though. I have no problems with people screaming past, as long as their reasonably sane. The back roads in southern Italy were absolutely wacky. No shoulder, narrow two-lane road, winding, with big trees to obscure visibility, in a residential district. It's posted as a 50kph zone, which seems quick to me, but we're doing 70kph, and getting angrily gestured at by the Italian behind us ... who finally passed us in the face of oncoming traffic, who had to panic stop to avoid a head-on collision. Oh, and at the same time, there was a motorcycle passing the oncoming traffic. We were nearly rear-ended at a stoplight, because we stopped. Not suddenly, no surprises, just stopped. These people made the California Roll look like a full-fledged Granny Stop! Oh, good god, and don't get me started on French traffic circles -- no stop, no yield, just romp on the gas and treat that bugger like your own personal skidpad, and the consequences be darned.

I won't disagree with your statements of law, but if the French and Italians are more psychotic traffic enforcement Nazi's than the WSP, it certainly wasn't apparent to me on the roads there.

On the N138 between Tours and Le Mans.....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1120633307.jpg

Radar van.... Bergerac...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1120633667.jpg

From Pistonheads....

Further confirmation, if any were needed, of the French traffic police's new, tough attitude to speeding in France is provided by motoring photographer Neill Watson.

On his Web site, he catalogues the experience of being stopped for driving at 193kph (120mph) in a 130kph limit on a near-empty motorway with a smooth clear surface. An instant ban for the driver -- a professional racer as it happened -- ensued, plus a "donkey-choking" fine of 750 euros, to be handed over instantly to the friendly gendarmes.

That's how it is now: exceed 179kph -- 50kph above the limit -- and it's a ban plus a big fine, no questions.

Be aware out there.

* Neill's site and full story
http://www.neillwatson.com/france.htm