UK to Put Monitors in Every Car?

wackoman2112 writes "The Sun is reporting that the UK government has plans to put a computerised spy in every car. This "spy" will record every single time a motorist goes slightly over the speed limit, into a bus lane, or stops on a yellow line! It will report this information to roadside sensors and you will soon receive a fine in the mail."

Where's Wesley Snipes when you need him?

[Bame Flait]

I want to see people get irate like Snipes in the phone booth in Demolition Man. Maybe slashbots can start a movement to bring back cryogenically frozen nerds to combat our evil oppressors.

That's why

[Sgt_Jake]

I only own cars that are more than 10 years old. ... yeah, that's the ticket...

As long as it is fairly balanced by...

[BigGerman]

... putting a computerized spy in every police car and such!
So if you rights are violated, you will get a fat settlement check in the mail automatically as well.
Eventually we all will have "legal bots" fighting each other in the depths of the Legal Network.

Good Evening Sir...

[Suhas]

...I am here to take your daughter for dance.

Sure Son, here, Take my car.

Re:The Sun

[mcgroarty]

The Sun also revealed that SCO does indeed own Linux, Darl is the father of Torvald's baby girl, Natalie Portman is a transvestite, and RMS and Taco are in litigation over renaming the site GNU/Slashdot...

It's a dark day for all of us. :-(

Re:Dutch minister: Curse control

[ratbag]

Is curse control intended to stop bad-languaged road-rage attacks?

Rob.

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[akbar pasha]

yeah we can have those credit card machines installed in every car, so that every time they break a law, they just swipe the card and ready to go....

much more flexible... ::akbar

Re:The Sun

[Captain Large Face]

Anyone from the UK not fall of their chair laughing when they saw the source of the article?

Re:Get the F out...

[Tony Hammitt]

Simple, we'll just have to put sensors on the dogs, too :)

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[cosmo7]

considerring that there hasnt been any changes in the user interface in a car since like 1930, yes, everything would be relevant.

so your car has an advance/retard lever? or a choke? even if you're in that minority in the US that has a clutch and gearstick, i doubt you have to double clutch to change gears because you don't have a synchromesh gearbox. or use different coolants for summer and winter. or regularly have to repair tires because they puncture so often.

Handy guide to the UK press

[Burb]

From "Yes, Prime Minister"

Jim Hacker: "Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers:
- The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country;
- The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country;
- The Times is read by people who actually do run the country;
- The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country;
- The Financial Times is read by people who own the country;
- The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country;
- And the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."
Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read the Sun?"
Bernard Woolley: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[ePhil_One]

Argueably there should be a "Panic" button for that 5% of the population that inexplicably wind up being chased repeatedly by undead serial killed like Jason Vorhees or T-1000 units. This could helpfully summon police units automaticly to help you out (in case its irate liquor store owners you are running from)

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[tempmpi]

You could build a flexible limiter. For most situations you only need to drive over the limit for a very short time. The limiter could allow you to drive over the limit for 30 seconds and start limiting if you drive too fast for a longer time.

If you need to drive an injured person to the hospital or something like that, there could be an emergency switch that disables the limiter completely. After that emergency you would need to get the limiter reenabled by the local police and you would get a ticket if your emergency was something like oversleept and didn't want to be late.

Have a neighbor you dislike?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Piss him off!

1. Steal his car one night
2. Drive around like a madman for 30 minutes
3. Park it back in his driveway
4. Watch the hijinks ensue when the police cart him away.

Be sure to wear gloves and leave no DNA. He'll never be able to prove it wasn't him.

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[Bob McCown]

your car has an advance/retard lever?

Judging by some of the idiots I regularly see on the road, their cars MUST have a retard lever on them, since they have a retard behind the wheel.

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[Vindicator9000]

what if you're running from the police?

Who is driving?

[TheLevelHeadedOne]

I haven't read all 400+ comments on this topic or done any research into the U.S.'s OBD-III stuff, but how are they going to handle the practical side of this, e.g., the fact that I'm an identical triplet and sometimes loan my cars or pickup truck to one of my brothers. If one of them is driving and goes 60mph in a 45 zone, who gets the ticket? Lets see that one stand up in court.

Yet another advantage to having a multiple!

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[cayenne8]

A lot of drivers want to drive the speed limit, but often don't pay attention to what speed they are actually driving.

With a good radar detector...you don't have to pay attention to the speed limits...

:-)

Re:Get the F out...

[trash eighty]

i have to enter a bus lane to get onto my own drive, hmm this could suck ;)

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[TClevenger]

"Hey, look kids! There's Big Ben, Parliament. Again."

Re:Inflexibility means brittle.

[jazman_777]

When you (and everybody else) on the road knows how to use them properly, they're okay.

Then the Americans show up, and get stuck in them.