Satellite speed-limiter system starts trials
The transport authorities' obsession with the speeding has taken aa step further. The Victorian Government will soon begin testing a device that can electronically slow a car using satellite technology.
The project is dubbed AISAI, Australasian Intelligent Speed Adaptation Initiative, and will be the first of its kind in Australia.
The first guinea pigs will be Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, a former Victorian coroner plus other Victorian Government ministers and an estimated 45 other participants.
According to the Herald Sun, all state and territory governments as well as New Zealand have been in talks to introduce the system for some time. Depending on results, the project will move to NSW and Western Australia later this year.
The system will cost anywhere between $700 and $2000 per vehicle to install and it is expected to find its way into government fleet cars first.
Firstly it works out how fast you're going by taking an average reading of your changing position divided by time -it then runs the speed past the database to see if you're breaking the speed limit - then begins the pain.
There are three levels of operation:
- Level one will simply give you an annoying audible warning when you go over the speed limit,
- Level two starts to cut power to the engine to slow you down by force - but can be overridden or ignored,
- Level three is like level two only that the system now overrules you, and won't allow the car to speed regardless of what colourful words you will use against it.
Queensland transport, which despite a massive surge in speed cameras failed miserably in reducing the state's road toll last year, has already come out and said the system can reduce serious accidents by an enormous 20 per cent.
But wait, it gets better. The Herald Sun also quoted in its original report that an unnamed Victorian government website has gone even one step further, suggesting that almost 60 per cent of road fatalities can be cut if the system was fitted to all cars.
Previously we would say that the state governments are looking for the cheap way out to fix the road toll epidemic, but this is no cheap option. With the estimated cost of $700-$2000, the money would be far better spent introducing mandatory advanced driver training classes to improve driving skills and reiterating the road rules.
No doubt that if the trial are successful, the system will find its way to everyday cars, perhaps being a mandatory fitting for repeat speeding offenders.
So what do you think? Would you allow your car to be fitted with a big brother style speed limiter?
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