UK drivers beware

[Stringent]

I was reading someone elses newspaper on the train last night (as you do) it said about microchips that are fitted to cars which record EVERY MINOR driving offence. So if you went 1mph over the limit, you are booked. Couldn't quite make out all the article, but even the bestest of drivers do things, forget to signal etc. I think that would cause an uproar.

The offences are logged and the first you know of it is whe you get a report through the post.

Oh it was in the Evening Standard, in case anyone else read it, can fill me in a bit! The guy turned over while I was trying to read it! LOL!

[Stringent]

Ahh found an article, not the one I read, but similar:

Big Brother, Where Art Thou?

In most things, the UK lags behind the rest of the EU, generally sceptical of ideas immanating from Brussels. This time the Government here is a step ahead. Brussels would like to be able to track the drug smugglers and terrorists across Europe using electronic vehicle identification. The UK Government wants to use it for so much more.

The Government here is hoping to microchip every vehicle. This will save the lots of money. Not only will is save money, it will make lots and lots of money. It will save the cost of traffic cops -- what few of them there are left. It will save the cost of speed cameras which have by and large replaced the cops. All a car has to do is travel from one roadside sensor to another. The speed is calculated by a computer, which can then print off the citation and address it to the registered owner of the car.

But it isn't just a explosion in speeding fines that will have the coffers overflowing. The chip will also notify the Government when the road tax disc, MOT, or insurance has expired. It will even know when the car is parked illegally or following too closely on the motorway. A feasibility study prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers has listed 47 possible applications for the chip. Every possible minor offence will be charged and paid for and the computer won't have to listen to any excuses, whether good, bad, or indifferent.

The Government will also know everywhere every car travels. Can't remember which day you visited family in Wales or friends in the Midlands? The Government can. Can't remember with whom you associated at a political meeting? Well, you won't have the records, but the Government will be able to correlate all of the chips at a particular location at a particular time. I'm sure any of my intelligent readers can extrapolate the implications from there.

The Government wants to get every car tagged within the next four years. As for the network of roadside sensors, well, surprise! it's already in place.

[J4MES]

omg

/wouldn't happen under the Tories...

[Maldonado]

would never happen. no-one's chipping my car! and if they did... well half a degree in electronic engineering can fix that

[Bunjiweb]

wouldnt happen cus people would quickly invent a modification to disable the chip, and also it would be classed as a breach of human rights because obviously there are lots of situations where you arent on public roads and do things not right and all that....

Ben

[Maldonado]

and the massive public outcry when something like 90% of drivers are banned in the first week from an accumulation of points from doing 35 in a 30, not signalling, etc.

and since when has not signalling been an offence?

[Moby-Dick]

Originally posted by Maldonado


and since when has not signalling been an offence?

AFAIK It can be classed as driving without due care and attention.

[Maldonado]

lols...

i think it might be because it's against the highway code, and not following the highway code is an offence, like splashing pedestrians and things

[Vimeous]

Not-signalling will loose you an insurance claim everytime when the blame gets transfered to you. It's never worth not signalling, even if there's no-one around, it's a dangerous habit to get into. I'd say I have to second guess at least one driver every 100miles who doesn't indicate that he's about to cross my path at a roundabout (that's 1000 accidents I've had to avoid cos of lazy people). FFS the damn things are round pieces of road, you indicate onto the road and indicate to leave it. What's so damn hard!!

Back on topic the way I see it is inevitable. Like the London conjestion charge forcing a charging scheme right out to the M25 and the £35 increase in parking fines, the current government is not scared of inplementing these radical policies. The set-up cost is far lower than the revenue they expect. If they keep going for extremes it'll force the maority of us who drive for pleasure (and therefore are paying lovely fuel duties) will cease to drive as far. We won't use public transport because it doesn't take us where WE won't to go (It's a personal freedom thing).
The whole thing will go mad, we'll live in a Gattica style state and it'll be too late to change it. Maybe the entire human race will commit suicide from boredom as a result?

Nuclear war

The End

[Stringent]

The amount of people that don't sinal is phenominal (at least where I live) I get SO annoyed when people turn off without signalling, or a classic is right hand lane at some lights, you can go straight on or turn right. You want to overtake that lorry, there is a car infront of you, not signalling right. One thinks, OK he is going stright. Lights turn green, he THEN signals right. That P's me off SO badly.

Roundabouts too, people don't signal to tell you where they go! Grrrrr!

[Shanks]

Hi all...

Apparently these have been used in America in cases to help convictions after an accident. One example I read was a guy crashed into another car killing one occupent. He said he was only doing the local speed limit - subsequent tests to the 'black box ' proved he was doing well over the limit and he was jailed.

As far as I know they are not *yet* used (and should never be) as a way of instantly fining people for all minor driving faults but if used as above I don't see it as a bad thing.

Wow post count +1 =1

Cheers

[Maldonado]

that would be a good idea... black boxes to tell what you were doing immediately prior to a crash. but not to log every minor offence.

[Stringent]

But everything would have to be logged anyway, and recorded, so if they wanted information, they could easily get it. However it does have uses as outlined above if used correctly.

[Maldonado]

well, "they" couldn't easily get it, because it would be locked inside your car in the black box... no radio transmission or anything. and it should only store, say, 1 hour's worth of information.

[BoB_DoG]

aye, if you ad a flash memory chip, and kept rewriting over and over, you owuld only have the last portion of t chip saved when a crash occurs,

Maldonado, u an ex electronic engineering student. me too... left it after a year tho, not 2

[Stringent]

@BoB_DoG yeah thats kinda along the lines I was thinking.