Big Brother Under Your Hood

ISA, or Intelligent Speed Adaptation, is a system of in-vehicle speed limitation field-tested last summer by researchers at the University of Leeds. It is similar to the system of Adaptive Cruise Control, already part of many new vehicles in Japan and recently instituted by a number of European manufacturers. Referred to as the "beginning of the microwave era in automotive electronics" the latter system links to the electronic control and braking systems of a car to maintain a safe distance between it and the vehicle in front of it. It still gives ultimate control over travelling speed to the driver. The ISA, however, is a horse of a different colour.
Its Advisory setting will display the speed limit and leave it up to the driver to comply with it. Its Driver Select setting gives the driver the choice to switch the ISA on and off at will. The Mandatory setting will limit the vehicle at all times and remove all possibility for a driver to exceed the speed limit.
The system links to elements of the vehicle's power train, such as the throttle, the ignition, the gearbox and the brakes. It requires the vehicle to be accurately located and provided with info about the speed limit posted on the road it is travelling. Since the driver barreling down the roadway at the highest speed is most likely to be a killer, targeting them and reducing their velocity will bring the greatest reduction in car crash casualties. A reduction of 36% in all injury accidents and of 59% in fatal crashed is the prediction for the ISA's success rate. Obviously, if this system is to fly, governments would have to make development of accurate digital road maps showing speed limits a high priority. That would be a mere technicality in terms of roadblocks erected against the use of the system. The other one would be the attitude of many drivers who would begin to scream about Big Brother climbing into the car with them. I think the owners of Hummers and sports cars might be among the loudest complainers, but I know many an ordinary Joe would join in the chorus, too.
I say why not begin tomorrow to install the mandatory setting on every vehicle to come off the assembly line? While the hollerin' and screamin' might be loud enough to deafen a statue for a while, I do know that none of it would be likely to come from anyone who's been to the funeral of a loved one killed in a car crash.