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The EU is moving forward with legislation to require ISA, Intelligent Speed Assistance, in all new cars starting in 2022. This system will use GPS, map databases, and speed limit reading cameras to limit speed. Speed limiting will be accomplished by limiting engine power. Drivers can temporarily override the system by pressing down hard on the accelerator. It seems that, at least to start, the system will have an off button. Other requirements of the legislation include a system to monitor the driver for drowsiness, and inattention, as well as standard hookups for in car breathalysers. It seems the driver monitoring systems may include in car cameras pointed at the driver.
Sources:
thisismoney.co.uk
fortune.com
euractiv.com
theengineer.co.uk
gizmodo.com
Previously on Soylent: Volvo: In-Car Cameras Will Monitor Drivers and Take Action to Prevent Distracted or Impaired Driving
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 28 2019, @04:39PM (14 children)
I mostly agree with that. I can't go along with the day/night speed limits. It's enough to tell the public "Slow down in fog, slow down in rain, slow down if visibility sucks, you are responsible for driving according to weather and other conditions." Call me crazy, but I've exceeded 100 mph at night time. Full moon, overall good visibility, and some fool in a Corvette running interference for wild life, including Smoky Bear, I was perfectly comfortable. By "good visibility", I mean I was able to see more than a mile ahead of me. Plenty of space for me to slow down when Smoky Bear flipped his blue lights on to pull over the crazy bastard in the 'Vette.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @05:14PM (8 children)
I could however see the value in a "graded license". Cop pulls you over because they think you're driving too fast for the conditions, you say sure - for most people maybe. But look, I'm rated AAA-safe to drive 60% faster than the average driver at the same risk level, and am allowed a 80% higher than normal blood-alcohol content.
Meanwhile the poor yutz that can't get out of their driveway without hitting a fence or trash can is rated D-, must remain below 30 mph at all times, and is allowed only 5% of the normal blood alcohol level.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 28 2019, @05:39PM (5 children)
Are you European? Or Asian? I understand they have schemes like that. A driver under age 18 is only permitted xx number of horsepower. I read of a motorcycle that sold for some exorbitant price because it fell within the purchaser's horsepower grade, but still looked and sounded sporty. I think this was in one of the Scandinavian countries, but won't swear to it.
The concept is commonly promoted here in the US among motorcyclists - start on a small machine, and work your way up to a larger, more powerful machine. Of course, "small" motorcycles today mean 600 to 800 cc, while "small" in my day meant 90 to 250 cc. And, I know for a fact that the 600 cc today have more power and speed than the monster machines of my day had. My boy's 600 Yamaha may not beat yesterday's Kawasaki 900, but it will certainly run with it!
It would be a great idea if motorcyclists especially were restricted on horsepower for the first two years. Hit Youtube for positively insane videos of rookie riders. Auto drivers would benefit from the same type of restrictions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @06:44PM (3 children)
I am not, I'll have to look in to how they handle things. Horsepower limits are perhaps a better strategy to reduce reckless driving, though mass limits would be better to reduce consequences - after all, if you're keeping pace with traffic then the damage you'll do in a collision is based pretty much entirely on the mass of your vehicle.
With motorcycles both make even more sense - the vehicle is far more dynamically than a car, and relies on your own mass for a large percentage of the steering. A bigger and/or more powerful machine will almost certainly be more difficult to control under virtually all conditions. That's not really the case with cars (until you get pretty extreme at least).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Thursday March 28 2019, @10:06PM (1 child)
I agree with the mass thing. I've been thinking that fines for speeding and recless driving should be proportional to the mass of your vehicle.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 29 2019, @02:44PM
That seems like an excellent idea.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:46PM
Limits on horsepower or mass are strictly un-'Murican! will never pass any legislature. The only effective horsepower tax is the cost of fuel, and the direct tax on vehicle mass in the passenger vehicle classes is so small as to be a joke.
It does make sense for learners: 5hp limit through age 14, then triple every age bracket/period with > 100 hours of driving experience and without significant accident (15hp @ 15, 45hp @ 16, 135hp @ 17, 405hp @ 20, and unlimited @ 25).
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @10:10PM
They do this in Australia. It means selling your first 250 is easy. My first 250 sold for 50% what I paid for it 10 years later. Learners here are cc limited so the bike shops do a good turnover.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Codesmith on Thursday March 28 2019, @05:47PM (1 child)
Graded licensing exists for certain roadways and vehicle sizes in my location, but I'm not sure how having a range of allowed speeds would work on any given highway. I see a traffic nightmare with that.
As for the alcohol: I'm a fim believer in 0%. Twelve hours bottle to throttle. There are enough poorly skilled drivers out there that adding the risk of any impairment to the driver is a disaster waiting to happen. I enjoy my brew and whiskey, but it has no place on the roadway.
Pro utilitate hominum.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @06:27PM
Vehicle sizes would be another option - I see a speed grade working not by meaning you drive slow on the freeway, but that you're not allowed on the freeway in the first place. Though as I think on it, that'd mean you'd be redirecting incompetent drivers from a relatively easy-to-handle freeway, onto much more chaotic normal streets. Probably not a net benefit...
There's some argumenst to be made for zero alcohol tolerance - though I think a similar argument could be applied to using cell phones (even hands-free have been shown to contribute to more accidents than modest intoxication), eating, and having non-restrained-and-gagged children in the car.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday March 28 2019, @06:14PM (1 child)
Slow down in fog?
If it is foggy, I want to get out of the fog quickly.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday March 28 2019, @07:07PM
I really hope you're joking...
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday March 28 2019, @06:45PM (1 child)
You're crazy.
No need to thank me.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @08:14PM
I'd mod you redundant if your post wasn't requested.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:29PM
Night conditions vary... I'm thinking of Tamiami Trail in the 1980s - two lanes, bordered on the North by a shading tree line on the other side of which is a canal (dug to get the fill to make the road), said canal filled with alligators, said alligators prone to occasionally crossing the highway - the trees often defeated the moonlight, and 1980s headlights weren't much use at 80mph to see a 400lb meat-speed-bump. This is the same 89 miles from Naples to Miami that I have crossed multiple times in the daylight in less than an hour (Carter era 55mph speed limits), but at night it really was a different beast.
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