Vocal Voices

From June 2022 all new cars sold in Europe (including us) will have an Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) device fitted.
What this does is by using a combination of a camera to read speed limit road signs and a gps fitment, it limits the speed of your car to the speed limit for that section of road. It's a speed limiter, in other words.
Honestly, what next?
The UK has some of the safest roads in the world, but still people with power just can't resist using it, whether it is needed or not. In the early 1970's nearly 8,000 people a year were being killed on our roads, now it's less than 2,000 despite the increase in traffic.
Initially there will be ways around this device but I think the long term intention behind it is pretty clear.
So if you ever need to overtake someone driving at 25 in a 50 zone, don't put that foot down too hard or half way through the overtake you might get a shock!

I wonder where I can get a Mk 2 Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia these days?

Funnily enough this came up yesterday when I went to pick my car up from its MOT repair.

I was asking Mark about either getting a new one or sticking with the Note. He said the Note had three to four years before it will need nursing along, but not to wait that long if I was going for a "new" new one because there is a load of new legislation in the pipeline and this was just one. His suggestion was to give it 18 months and go for a '68 plate diesel of the Clio - Fiesta - Corsa size.

There is a war against the car going on with all these humps, bumps, chicanes and cycle lanes cropping up everywhere - and the 20 MPH speed limits - and this is another restriction. And the EV's are going to be controlled like never before. This new scheme is apparently going to be an audible alarm for the first two years. But get this: apparently the ISA system is designed to collect anonymous data and report how it is used and how often it is switched off, and after two years the legislation can be revised. Anonymous? Get real!

So they already know that it will deactivated because drivers do not like the idea and for that reason they are going to "Big Brother" us even more. We might as well be chipped at birth and have done with it - assuming there are no chip shortages.

It is a real eye opener the way they put it.

https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_saf ... ion_isa_en

Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) is an in-vehicle system that supports drivers' compliance with the speed limit. ISA is in fact a collective term for various different systems. Field trials and driving simulator studies show positive effects on speed behaviour and expect large safety effects. Some studies report negative side effects of ISA, but there is yet insufficient insight in the size of these possible negative side effects and their consequences. Around one quarter of European car drivers considers a speed-limiting device like ISA to be very useful; actual experience with ISA seems to increase acceptance.

Yeah right, so 3/4 of us absolutely HATE the idea but the 1/4 win. Democracy in action.

ISA is a collective term for various systems:

The open ISA warns the driver (visibly and/or audibly) that the speed limit is being exceeded. The driver him/herself decides whether or not to slow down. This is an informative or advisory system.
The half-open ISA increases the pressure on the accelerator pedal when the speed limit is exceeded (the 'active accelerator'). Maintaining the same speed is possible, but less comfortable because of the counter pressure.
The closed ISA limits the speed automatically if the speed limit is exceeded. It is possible to make this system mandatory or voluntary. In the latter case, drivers may choose to switch the system on or off.

To assess the political acceptance of ISA systems, the EU-funded PROSPER project performed a survey among different stakeholders (politicians, governmental institutes, research institutes, pressure groups and commercial groups) in eight EU countries. It is reported, that despite differences between countries and between different stakeholder groups, ISA is generally seen as an effective safety measure

Erm, at the time there were 28 countries in the EU. And there has not been one single shred of evidence that reducing speed, overall, has reduced deaths on the roads. In fact in certain circumstances the attempts to regulate speed on the roads and overtaking has actually increased deaths forcing the removal of these attempts.

It is quite interesting because the most advanced driving control systems currently allow you to set a fixed level of speed over the speed limit or a % value. That's OVER, not under.

I'm sure the wiring for the devices could become faulty the day after the MOT and become functional again the day after. Not my fault the technology is not robust enough...

Suff, did you note the obvious omission from the list of stakeholders?

It was, of course, us, the plebs, the ordinary drivers, the ones who fund the infrastructure via VAT, fuel duties and the various forms of VEDs - and pay the salaries of these wonks! We don't matter!

I know, why not just make cars with two max speeds - 25 MPH for urban and rural roads and 60 MPH for motorways, no, make that 50 - all controlled by an eye in the sky. How about sponge bumpers or maybe a man with a flag?

I am glad that I am old because I would not want to live in the "new and improved" version coming down the tracks.

Workingman wrote:It was, of course, us, the plebs, the ordinary drivers, the ones who fund the infrastructure via VAT, fuel duties and the various forms of VEDs - and pay the salaries of these wonks! We don't matter!

I did. Very much so. I wasn't surprised though.

Workingman wrote:I know, why not just make cars with two max speeds - 25 MPH for urban and rural roads and 60 MPH for motorways, no, make that 50 - all controlled by an eye in the sky. How about sponge bumpers or maybe a man with a flag?

I am glad that I am old because I would not want to live in the "new and improved" version coming down the tracks.

Me too.
If you think about it the technology is nearly there to remotely control the maximum speed of your car. Just bung lots of 20 signs up and that's as fast as you can go, you have no choice.

What is it with these people? Why the need to have power over others? Is there a name for this, is it a medical condition?

Anyway, we are obviously being nudged in the direction of self driving cars.

Another thing I have noticed here in Leeds is that the Highways Dept have taken the reduction in traffic over the lockdowns to install new cycle lanes and reconfigure some junctions in order for them to work. Where there were once two lanes for cars and a priority box at the front for cycles we now have one lane for bikes and one for cars.

The tailbacks are now horrendous... and that will no doubt need new strategies to be put in place to combat the "congestion". Yes, the congestion created by the cycle lanes hardly ever used. Goodness knows how much all this has cost

Well if people are interested enough, they can cause total havoc until the government desist.

As was noted on Tesla's AI day, you can spoof the AI into slowing or even stopping.

Musk has a T shirt with a stop sign on it, he tested it and a Tesla running under full control will stop if he, as he says, flashes the car.

Now Tesla can teach the AI the difference between a person with a T shirt and a real stop sign. This technology doesn't have the ability.

So if people are really hacked off with this authoritarian stance they can do a mass 5mph T shirt protest.

It would bring the country to a standstill.

Hardly anyone knows about it Suff. There has been very little publicity.
One thing it will do imo is to depress the sales of new cars even further.

If people become aware of it probably.

Mind you the manufacturers won't mind that so much at the moment. Toyota is having to reduce output by 40% due to chip shortages.

This is an interesting one. I can see Musk allowing someone to publish how to hack their software to remove the feature, then mildly say, "your fault if you bork it", then not remove the "fix" in future updates.

He doesn't like governments running your personal life.