Nannyism watch: Canada mulls speed governors

“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 […]

“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.” (“Device stops speeders from inside car”, CNNMoney, Dec. 4). Kaimipono Wenger at Concurring Opinions (Dec. 4) says the idea “seems wrong on so many levels it’s hard to list them all” and should not necessarily be viewed as pro-safety, since speeding in some circumstances — say, on rural roads in an emergency on the way to a hospital — can be vital to life and limb.

The government of Great Britain looked at the idea a few years ago (“Go slow — like it or not”, BBC, Oct. 23, 1998; “‘Spy in the sky’ targets speeders”, BBC, Jan. 4, 2000). A 2002 research paper (PDF) funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation on New England traffic recommended speed governors as the “most effective way of achieving speed compliance” (p. 4). Last year a Gallup poll for NHTSA (PDF) found that the idea was generally not popular with the public, commanding only 35 percent support (pp. 11, 64); Eastern, female, Hispanic and black respondents were relatively favorably disposed. Back on Oct. 26, 1999 we took note of a report that trial lawyers were taking a look at trying to get courts to hold automakers liable for not installing speed governors on vehicles.

5 Comments

  • meanwhile in the Netherlands they’re thinking of going the other way.
    Again each car will get a GPS receiver but this will be used to send position and speed data to a central computer at regular intervals, thus making it possible to fully automatically generate speeding tickets.
    Far more profitable than preventing cars from speeding in the first place (or just assume that most people can think for themselves and determine what a safe speed actually is based on the traffic situation rather than some dictate from the skies).

  • I would consider paying for the privilege of having that system! But only if it was a PRIVATE system…

    And that thing about the Netherlands… scary. One more reason (as if I needed any) to stay FAR FAR AWAY from Europe.

  • As a person that has a GPS system in his car for navigation purposes, I can’t wait to see what happens when the system gets confused thinks that the driver is on a nearby street instead of the highway. This would be particularly troublesome in areas where recent construction has moved the highway (For example, in Boston’s Big Dig.)

  • Speed governors in the frozen north

    Speaking of Canada, as I have been wont to do of late, Walter Olson forwarded this little item which just goes to show how the nanny state continues to grow in the frozen north:Canadian auto regulators are testing a system

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