CA MAY BE MADE SAFE FROM THE SCOURGE OF RECKLESS SPEEDERS

By Bob Walsh

              

You may or may not think this is a good idea.  I am not wild about it myself.  At least this is one of those things that is currently technically doable, as opposed to warm and fuzzy things like firearms microstamping or "keying" weapons to individual owners by some sort of magical process to prohibit unauthorized use.

 

Assuming it makes it into law in about three years you will be unable to buy a new car in CA that is physically capable of speeding more than 10 mph above the local speed limit.  Since there is no speed limit in CA above 70 mph no new car sold in CA after the implementation date would be capable of doing more than 80 mph on any public road.

 

The idea is fairly simple.  A GPS unit in the car knows where the car is and knows what the speed limit is where you are.  The car would be physically incapable of driving more than 10 mph above that limit.  It is (theoretically) a technically easy thing to do.  I'll bet the producers and sellers of high performance cars would just LOVE this.  It would, however, make my 225 hp Porsche powered 1964 VW much more valuable than it currently is. 

 

I confess to being uneasy about this.  Like any tech it can screw up.  You could find yourself driving down I-5 at 75 mph and all of a sudden you are doing 25 mph because your GPS is picking up a school zone right next to the freeway.  An older, ungoverned cement mixer truck is suddenly driving up your ass.  Doesn't sound like much fun to me.

 

I have no idea if this will get much traction or not, but I wouldn't bet against it right now.