First we're forced to give up our petrol cars and go electric for the sake of "the environment". Thank God the average consumer has no idea how batteries are made, or how electricity is made. Out of site out of mind is now official government policy. When the government hiked petrol taxes the country was brought to a stand-still by protests, yet year on year there is scandal after scandal as energy suppliers hike prices and there is nothing anyone can do about it. No wonder the government wants everyone in their thrall.
Now the UK is going to implement the latest EU lunacy of mandatory speed limiters on cars.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47715415
Possibly even worse than the speed limiters are the black boxes which your car will also have, that records your general driving and attitude to speed. So when that 90 year old man pulls out of a side street into your path because he didn't see you, Big Brother could rule against you because you put your foot down that time on a clear country road, or on the motorway at 2am.
How about using technology for good rather than evil? What about a system that forces people who do 40mph on a 60mph road to speed up? What about a system that forces tractors, lorries, busses etc to pull into laybys when there are queues behind them? What about a system for pushbikes that monitors every time they jump a red light, every yard cycled illegally on the pavement? What about a system that makes Amazon pay tax?
I'm not against speed controls per se, obviously some speed limits are more important than others, but it's a system that is far from perfect and up until now this imperfect system is only tenable due to human discretion. Most people would agree that drivers should slow down around schools, or built-up areas in general, maybe stick to 70 on busy motorways, even drop your speed to 60 or 50 in heavy rain. But if you passed an unmarked cop car at 80 on a clear motorway in good driving conditions chances are they wouldn't do anything. Removing the human intervention that makes an imperfect system tolerable and replacing it with forced automation is lunacy. I know the system can be overridden yadda yadda, but let's get real, this is the first step on a slippery slope. Once the technology is there it will become more and more intrusive.
Each year the amount of revenue generated by speeding fines is close to £100m, what is the government going to do when that money drops? It's chickenfeed in the grand scheme of things but it's still enough to staff a whole unit of officers dedicated to tracking down and prosecuting people who say mean things on twitter.
I was good while it lasted. We drove fast, our cars were loud, driving was exhilarating. Now our roads are congested, cameras and "roadworks" are everywhere, speed limits are dropping, road surfaces are terrible, costs are spiralling but that's still not enough...they're determined to suck every last drop of fun out of driving. Eventually we'll all look back and think; "Remember when cars were fun?"
Now the UK is going to implement the latest EU lunacy of mandatory speed limiters on cars.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47715415
Possibly even worse than the speed limiters are the black boxes which your car will also have, that records your general driving and attitude to speed. So when that 90 year old man pulls out of a side street into your path because he didn't see you, Big Brother could rule against you because you put your foot down that time on a clear country road, or on the motorway at 2am.
How about using technology for good rather than evil? What about a system that forces people who do 40mph on a 60mph road to speed up? What about a system that forces tractors, lorries, busses etc to pull into laybys when there are queues behind them? What about a system for pushbikes that monitors every time they jump a red light, every yard cycled illegally on the pavement? What about a system that makes Amazon pay tax?
I'm not against speed controls per se, obviously some speed limits are more important than others, but it's a system that is far from perfect and up until now this imperfect system is only tenable due to human discretion. Most people would agree that drivers should slow down around schools, or built-up areas in general, maybe stick to 70 on busy motorways, even drop your speed to 60 or 50 in heavy rain. But if you passed an unmarked cop car at 80 on a clear motorway in good driving conditions chances are they wouldn't do anything. Removing the human intervention that makes an imperfect system tolerable and replacing it with forced automation is lunacy. I know the system can be overridden yadda yadda, but let's get real, this is the first step on a slippery slope. Once the technology is there it will become more and more intrusive.
Each year the amount of revenue generated by speeding fines is close to £100m, what is the government going to do when that money drops? It's chickenfeed in the grand scheme of things but it's still enough to staff a whole unit of officers dedicated to tracking down and prosecuting people who say mean things on twitter.
I was good while it lasted. We drove fast, our cars were loud, driving was exhilarating. Now our roads are congested, cameras and "roadworks" are everywhere, speed limits are dropping, road surfaces are terrible, costs are spiralling but that's still not enough...they're determined to suck every last drop of fun out of driving. Eventually we'll all look back and think; "Remember when cars were fun?"