Slashdot Mirror
Device Stops Speeders From Inside Car
frdmfghtr writes "CNN reports that the Canadian government is testing a new anti-speeding device." From the article: "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 traveling 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."
It looks like we would all need tin foil hats for our cars......
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
This'll ruin chase scenes in movies. I guess they can't film in Canada anymore. If they get this in L.A., what will they put on the news?
but would this have any effect on people with lead feet?
We already have this -- It's called a Wife. They alert you when you're going over the speed limit and make it increasingly difficult to press on the accelerator.
What happens in a tunnel? No signal, I would assume, yet one would hope the car continues to operate normally. If that is the case, just surround the receiver with lead and block the signal to the car. Problem solved.
-------------------------------END--COMMUNICATION
If the scope of this system can be expanded such that it can also make the brake harder to depress when the driver is driving less than the speed limit, that would be like totally awesome. I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck behind a granny (or person with Florida tags), wincing in anticipation of every curve in the road, no matter how gentle, which I know will bring up those infernal brake lights. And, just as a tangent, simply because there's a car in the oncoming lane doesn't mean a rapid deceleration is prudent!
The flag just makes more sense than the constitution. - Judas Gutenberg
I would hope people try to drive wrecklessly. I believe the word you were looking for was recklessly.
It's Canada. What's the point of driving 70mph in an emergency to get to a hospital where you're going to have to wait for six months before they'll see you? :D
It's sponsored by Fox, because they needed new TV show ideas - this one will be "When Speed Regulators Kick In".
I drive a suped up Z-28.
I drive a 1989 Mercury Cougar with duct-tape in place of weather stripping on the back window. I guess it's understandable that you could come up with a situation where hitting the gas is necessary and I couldn't.
On the off-chance that no one has patented a GPS spoofer yet, let this post be prior art to keep the idea in the public domain.
There are soo many of these cockamamie schemes coming out that depend on GPS - for examaple california was floating a mandatory GPS logger for highway use taxes - that there is certain to be a big market for GPS spoofers. The signals from the GPS satellites should be faint enough that overpowering them in a radius of say, 10 meters ought to be feasible with a handheld-sized device.
In this case, I see two popular uses.
1) Spoof your own GPS to "unlock" the accelerator. Make it think you are always in the booneys on a highway with an 80mph limit (or one with no limit in the system's database).
2) Spoof that idiot in front of you who is driving too slow or the jerk tailgating you. Put him in a school zone with limit of 10mph and watch him come to a near stand-still - slowpoke will eventually pull over to the shoulder and let you pass while the tailgater will quickly fall off your tailgate.
My minivan otoh pushes 90 quite easily, and would probably break 120 if i wanted to try it.
It's probably got a fuel shutoff somewhere between 100-125. My old car had a fuel shutoff at 120 (though it actually kicked in at 115 because my speedometer was off ;) -- I would be zipping along with a nice amount of acceleration and when it hit 120 my engine would turn into a massive brake. The fuel cut-off wouldn't release until the speed dropped below 110. My current car has this limit at about 110. One time I bypassed it by shifting into netural on a nice downgrade to avoid the engine braking affect. I think I got my car up to about 135 that time. I was actually scared ;)
I think this has something to do with the tires that most cars use. The typical consumer tire isn't rated for more then 120. There might also be a law enforcement stake as well.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Imaging if half the cars on the 405 in LA suddenly slowed to less than a quarter of the speed limit and THEY were panicking because they are as confused as they guy coming up behind them.
I believe those are called 'weekdays'
The Internet is generally stupid
The main problem with such a system is that in some cases it will actually contribute to accidents. Now, the United States significantly decrease the accuracy of the GPS system in war time (understandably so). Are we gonna see more car accidents in Canada when the US goes to war ?
The Raven
"Okay honey, don't worry, we can outrun it. WHAT THE F***?!?!"
"You can't have everything. Where would you keep it?" -- Steven Wright
I'm German, but even I can't change the laws of physics
Oh man, I can't stop laughing at this.
Post-rock/Ambient/Drone and other noise.