Recently the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) has made a recommendation to car manufacturers to implement speed limiters in their vehicles. This is not entirely new as there are vehicles out now that have this technology already. This technology would prevent vehicles from surpassing the speed limit of the road that you are driving on. Once you reach the top of the limit, the accelerator would cease to send power.
I saw a video with a Chevy in it that had this technology and the car had a button you could press that would allow the car to exceed limitations for a duration of 15 seconds (for merging or passing I assume.) Looking at this from two angles, I think it makes sense and it doesn’t make sense. If you have a rather simple daily commute, I can see a speed limiter with an option to speed for a little as not too much of an issue. However, even when implementing this into a vehicle the maker understood that capping the car to the speed limit is too restrictive which is why they would even put that boost button in there in the first place.
Safety should always be a priority but there are many things that are sold to the average person that can be unsafe or result in injury or worse. You can make the argument that something like kitchen knives are dangerous if used improperly. You can make the argument that a ladder can be dangerous and accidents may occur. I think the main differences between vehicle accidents and the examples above would be that if you wanted to hurt someone else with a kitchen knife that is a decision not an accident. If you hurt yourself with a kitchen knife by accident it doesn’t affect someone else. If you had an accident on a ladder you yourself would fall and get injured. The problem with vehicles is that even if you make a mistake and cause an accident you can affect other people without intentionally doing so.
I am not advocating for the use of the limiters, however I do think there should be other ways to go about ensuring safer roads for people. I think driving tests should be a recurring test where someone would have to pass it periodically in order to keep a valid license. That would be an easy way to weed out unfit drivers regardless of what kind of hinderance they may be experiencing. Thanks for reading.
-Rich, Konig Wheels
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