Do you always drive at or below the speed limit? Most of us don’t. Technology now in cars will make sure we never exceed the speed limit; still more dystopian control of our lives. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
Something wicked this way comes – from my home state of Virginia, which is about to throttle back convicted “speeders” by giving traffic judges the authority to require their vehicles be fitted with speed-limiters. But that’s not really accurate – because every new vehicle already has speed-limiting “technology” – the word always used in cases such as this – embedded in their programming.
It just hasn’t been fully activated yet.
Implying it is only a matter of when it will be fully activated rather than if it will be.
Virginia’s move to empower judges to impose speed limiters on those convicted of “speeding” (defined in this case as driving 100 MPH or faster, which encompasses the driving of many of the enforcers of the speed limit but they are of course exempted) is the brainchild of a nanny lobby that styles itself Families for Safe Streets. Etymologically – as well as psychologically – the styling is of a piece with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Patriot Act in that the stylings are designed to quell any questioning a priori. After all, what sort of cretin could question “safe” streets? Or would question the importance of getting “drunks” off the road?
Or be opposed to a “Patriot”act?
“Safety” is thus equated with driving the speed limit – unless, of course, you are an enforcer of the speed limit, in which case it is safe to drive as fast as you like.
But here’s the important thing to bear in mind:
Once the precedent has been set it will be used as the basis for a general imposition. That is, using the already-built-into-new-cars speed limiting “technology” to throttle the “speeding” of drivers who drive less than 100 MPH. Eventually – inevitably – it will serve as the logical basis for electronically throttling “speeding” altogether. Because it follows. Because it is logical. Because if you give the cretins who insist that the streets must be made “safe” by electronically throttling the speed of those who drive 100 MPH an inch they will take a mile.
