No More Speeding..

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/12/01/...eed/index.html NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Canadian auto regulators are testing a system that would enforce speed limits by making it harder to push down the car's gas pedal once the speed limit is passed, according to a newspaper report. The system being tested by Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Transportation, uses a global positioning satellite device installed in the car to monitor the car's speed and position. If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal, according to a story posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail's Website. The pilot test, using 10 cars driven by volunteers, is believed to be the first in North America, although similar systems have been tested in several European countries, according to the newspaper. The agency is also testing another system that warns drivers with a voice alarm and a light whenever they start to speed, the newspaper said. Those systems are already on sale, according to the report. The company that makes the alarm device, the Otto Driving Companion, has already sold 400 of the units in Winnipeg alone, the newspaper said.

Hello Big Brother...

I'm glad I did 158 last weekend. This would S&*K.

You know the funny thing: I truly believe that speed limits have nothing to do with safety or gas consumption. It's a tax plain as day so that state/provincial politicians can continue to find new resources to fund their reelection campaigns. It just gets me so wound up to think about all the ways that the government tries to diminish the efforts of your average hard-working citizen.

I like the european way ... if you want to pay for the gas, drive however you like because the gas is taxed so much.

Of course we all know that the minute "BIG BROTHER" tries to pulll this there will be a gadget that disables it (or tricks it) on the market in less than a nano second. The whole thing is just a money making proposition!

That crap would NEVER fly here in the good ole US of A.

That crap will never fly in most countries, most certainly neither here nor in Canada. FWIW, even speed cameras were removed from the streets of toronto after a huge public demand to remove them. This system will never be implemented. It may find it's way into some 18 wheelers, airport taxi's etc. at the company owners discretion, may be. But, c'mon do you guy's really think it will be mandated for all passenger cars, it is unsafe for one. My guess is that it is a stupid publicity stunt by the company to expose their other products.

I am open to voluntarily installing this device in your car for an insurance discount or similar perk, but if this is mandated...

Don't know what you're smoking but it seems to make you mix up fantasy and reality...

If this went through, half the police force would be laid off. People would bitch so bad the speed limit would be raised on major highways.

Without a doubt the stupidest Idea I have ever heard. He should sell these in Singapore, they love imposing their will on the populace.

Sort of a device may be a good idea in the vehicles of the newly licensed (i.e. my 16 y/o niece and 18 y/o nephew) and those young drivers who often in the US bear a disproportionate representation in auto accidents especially those with fatalities (i.e. teens racing on public roads). BUT do I want this type of crap put in my C2 without my permission or desire? HELL NO! If the govt wants to improve driving safety then the best bet in my humble opinion is to raise the speed limits (i.e. the autobahn) on appropriate interstate and national roads as well as requiring everyone starting with new drivers to take an intensive course on HOW TO DRIVE properly much as they do in European countries. The average young European driver drives better I hate to say it than many of our teens in America the same age cause they have better training in how to drive properly and efficiently at speed and normal levels than we do. How many of us remember driver's ed classes in HS that spent more time on how to parallel park than how to handle your vehicle in a skid, spin, oversteer, understeer or hydroplaning or even how to drive 5-10 secs AHEAD of your vehicle? I know I didn't...and only learned them after obtaining the insight of those who had been to driver school sponsored by BMW, Porsche, and other car club like events. Just my 2 cents but such a mandatory course before licensing in the US would help improve driver skills and safety without the need for some national GPS speed regulating system. Hell if they have that much extra $$$ to spend why not send some of it down to the hurricane katrina victims alot of whom don't even have a car left to speed with!

If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal Before testing this system did it ever occur to anyone that the gas pedal is just as important a safety device as a brake pedal? Over the years think of how many times you've avoided trouble by powering out of the situation. So if I'm already exceeding the speed limit by 10 MPH, which is rather routine in my area, my ability to power out of trouble would be impeded by this safety system. I would bet that this system would be pushed by lawyers in the US because it would be really good good for their business.

Actually you have a major point there.

Sounds like it could happen in the US. Don't we have speed tracking systems on some rental cars?

Not sure but the last SUV that I've rented had a speeding regulator where the fuel pump would shut itself off when I start to hit 100mph.

Well even the many german automakers have limited the top speed to 155mph in the vehicles sold locally as a gesture of self-regulation to delay any possible govt. intervention, right ? But, that's different from a device like this attached to the gas pedal. There are rental companies keeping track of speed, but even worse is that most cars currently selling in the US has this chip that records your speed. The car companies say that it cannot be used in court, but there has been at least a case in the U.S.where it was used in court. Porsche says it will never install it, so is BMW. Lexus has them, and most Ford and GM vehicles do as well(I may be wrong with who has them exactly). I'll never buy another lexus just for this reason.

Good point. I do remember reading about a case where they convicted somebody based on this "black box" in a GM vehicle.

...can I move to the US ????

^ appart from our insurence rates in ontario.. we're not really that bad off in canada man... i mean.. no speed camera's, no more than an hr's drive 2 the nearest race track (1:30 to the nearest decent one).... an average cruising speed on most highways that's inline with the fastest US states anyhow.. i'm good with that.