UK To Require Drone Registration And Safety Exams (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg: Drones will have to be registered and their users required to pass safety tests under new rules to be announced by the U.K.'s Department for Transport... Registration will be mandated for owners of drones 250 grams (8.8 ounces) or larger after research found that drones as small as 400 grams (14 ounces) could damage the windscreens of helicopters. Other security measures like "geo-fencing" -- GPS-based technology programmed into drones to prevent them from flying into sensitive areas such as prisons and airports -- are also under consideration, according to a statement from the department.
The BBC points out that "There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that 'the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out.'"

"The UK government says 22 incidents involving commercial airliners and drones were investigated between January and April of this year," adds TechRadar, "with police unable to trace the owners of the drones -- one of the reasons for the new legislation."

Comments

Be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

Mandatory registration is usually the first step toward criminalization.

Re:Be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

Step away from the bong, dude. You've had enough already.

You already have a driver('s) license, and your automobile already has a government issued tag that requires periodic inspection, and you're required to purchase insurance for damage that your vehicle may cause whether you're behind the wheel or not. Aside from the "self-driving cars are going to take our freedomz!" nut-jobs, nobody's claiming that they're going to criminalize driving. (When level 5 self-driving cars are mainstream, it'll just cost you an arm and a leg to insure your personal "human operated" automobile.)

Drones are a legitimate threat to public safety. Mandatory registration is a first step towards accountability for damages, and it will make it easier to file civil and criminal charges against negligent drone owners / operators. As long as you follow the rules, nobody's coming for your drone.

Re: A knife is dangerous..

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does Vermont, with no gun controls, have a lower murder rate?
Why does Venezuela, with a total gun prohibition, have some of the worlds highest murder rates?

Re:"drones"

[Anonymous Coward]

Because in the past, before stabilization controllers became cheap and common place, it took a great deal of skill to fly an RC aircraft.

It cost hundreds of dollars for a machine capable of flying anywhere near high enough to bother anyone or anything. Unless you were a skilled pilot or in some sort of club with a simulator, you would probably wreck one before even getting it off the ground. Thus breaking your hundred dollar toy in seconds.

Thus the only, small number of people capable of flying RC planes were typically those that respect the hobby, aircraft, etc. They were knowledgeable, talented, skilled, and many times wealthy/educated type of folks.

With gryo sensors, cheap micro controllers, etc, RC Helicopters IE Drones allowed every day Joe to fly an RC craft with very little risk of wrecking it. There is very little risk of it becoming a money sink due to lack of talent. This opens the door to snot head punks kids, frat boys, and every other kind of low life scum being able to fly these things. Which is why now we're at the point of registering them.

It's the same thing with cars really. As they became cheaper, more reliable, and easier to use, more people used them. And as less able people used them, there came the need to hold people responsible for their stupidity.