Like tearing off that sticker on mattresses that warns us not to
“under penalty of law,” most of us don’t pay much attention to
speed limits. Five to ten over is the rule, not the exception — as
any survey of average traffic speeds will confirm. We vote with our
right foot every time we get behind the wheel, countermanding the
diktats of the local bureaucrats who erect limits well below what
large majorities (better than 85 percent, if you want an actual
figure based upon actual traffic surveys) of us consider reasonable
rates of travel.
But what if driving faster than our masters want us to became an
impossibility?
For years, this has been The Dream of safety-badger types, who
equate any deviance from often arbitrarily set posted speed limits
with mowing down small children in a gigantic SUV with really loud
mufflers, one hand on the wheel, the other clutching a half-empty
fifth of Jack Daniel’s. They pushed for mechanical governors (which
never flew) and even managed, briefly, to get a law passed that
required all new cars to be fitted with speedometers that read no
faster than 85 mph (really).
Now, however, the technology exists for a great leap forward —
or backward, depending on your point of view.
The Canadians are testing out a system that pairs onboard Global
Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology with a digital speed limit
map. It works very much like the in-car GPS navigation systems that
have become so common on late model cars — but with a twist.
Instead of helping you find a destination, the system prevents you
from driving any faster than the posted speed limit of the road you
happen to be on.
As in a conventional GPS-equipped car or truck, the system knows
what road you happen to be on, as well as the direction you’re
traveling. And the information is continuously updating as you
move. But in addition to this, the system also acquires information
about the speed limit on each road, as you drive. Once your vehicle
reaches that limit, the car’s computer makes it increasingly
difficult to go any faster. (See TopStories for more details.)
And unlike in years past, when a clumsy mechanical device would
be used to physically prevent the gas pedal from being depressed
all the way (or the carburetor’s throttle plates opened fully),
vehicle speed can be easily (and much more thoroughly) limited by a
modern car’s onboard electronics. Indeed, a few new cars — mostly
powerful sports cars — already have what’s known as a “valet key”
that’s used to significantly cut back available power at the
owner’s discretion.
But in this case, the cutting back would be controlled by Big
Momma — and “I can’t drive 55” a toothless battle cry from a
bygone era.
Ten vehicles equipped with this technology are currently being
tested in the Ottawa area; if the trial is “successful,” a wider
series of tests is planned — and it’s a sure bet the entire thing
will eventually be the object of a very strong-armed push to make
it mandatory equipment in every new car. It will be sold as a
“safety” measure — just like the 55-mph National Maximum Speed
Limit was in this country.
And they may just get away with it — notwithstanding that nine
out of ten of us routinely “speed,” a pretty strong indicator of
our respect for posted limits and the wisdom of those who set
them.
Why isn’t anyone asking — if current speed limits are so
sensible, why do so many of us disobey them routinely? Wouldn’t it
make more sense to adjust speed limits so that they reflect a more
reasonable consensus (based upon how we actually drive) rather than
constantly push for new ways to compel compliance with limits that
most of us clearly think are too low?
Bear in mind that for 20-plus years, we were relentlessly nagged
by the self-styled “safety lobby” (and its profiteers in the
insurance industry) that to exceed the sainted 55 mph limit was
“dangerous speeding” that put ourselves and others at risk. Yet
when Congress finally repealed the 55 mph limit in ‘95 — and most
states raised their highway limits to 65, 70, even 75 mph in some
cases — there was no increase in accident/fatality rates. Clearly,
the 55 mph limit was inappropriately low — and the millions of
tickets issued for “speeding” based upon it completely unjustified
(if by “justification” one means legitimate safety-related
reasons).
The same is true on countless secondary roads — under-posted
limits that are routinely ignored by most drivers — enforced by
radar traps and “justified” on the basis of “safety” even though
we’re well-aware that driving five or ten mph faster than many of
these posted limits has no bearing whatever on safety, just like
driving 65 or 70-something mph under the old 55 mph NMSL.
But Canada’s little experiment could bring a screeching halt to
all that — literally. Dumbed-down limits — and dumbed-down
driving — would become much more than the law of the land. They
would become an inescapable way of life.
And don’t think that it would stop at the border, either. Those
always-on Daytime Running Lamps most new cars come equipped with
used to be a Canada-only deal, too. The corseted minions of Joan
Claybrook (the Carter-era airbag nag who was a fervent booster of
the 55 mph NMSL) are surely watching Canada’s experiment with great
interest, tapping their spindly fingers together as they
contemplate the PR campaign they’ll launch to stuff it down our
gullets a couple of years hence.
So enjoy your furtive law-breaking while you still can. Very
soon, Big Momma may be doing a lot more than just watching you.
