Big Brother Cometh - GPS enabled speed limiters on bikes

[Slide Panda]

Mercifully this is news in the UK and nothings in production yet...  But they are working at a GPS enabled speed limiting device that 'knows' where you are and the speed limit of that road and will cut power if you go over.  Beyone being totally nanny-state it seems like a really dangerous concept to me.  Cutting the power to a bike at any given moment is a good way to cause people to crash.  You're in a tight turn, trying to obey the speed limit an dyou give the bike a little throttle to keep it stable... and brrp then powers cut mid turn - That's a great way to cause a crash.  Fantastic. 

Limiters or governors are nothing new, especially with the computer driven bikes (see the Hayabusa)  - but those provide a top end cap.  You can only go up to X mph
and that's it.  As lame as that is it leagues safer than some gizmo that thinks it knows better how you should be riding than you do...

The ole low tech 900 is looking better and better.

Link to the article.
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/mcn/2008/september/15-21/sep1908-speed-limiters-for-motorcycles/?&R=EPI-103024

[ArguZ]

I like my TomTom reminding me to top speed...
As it does I just stay out of trouble.
But sometimes you need to speed to overtake cagers and Harleys and if something would block that I would not accept it.
Sooner or later the whole traffic is computer regulated anyway...
So enjoy the German Autobahn as long as it exists  [moto]

[MTBryan]

Two things came to mind when I read this article:

1) This will never fly in the good ole US of A (I hope that's true)
2) If it did, I see a hacker market solving the problem. Or, just one more piece of junk we have to remove from a stock bike to make it work as designed.

[ryandalling]

Or, just one more piece of junk we have to remove from a stock bike to make it work as designed.

   That would be on the list.... mirrors, beer tray, reflectors, and speed limiter.... new standard set of mods....

[knightrider]

a similar system is installed on the new nissan GT-R. the onboard gps knows when you are on a race track, and it disables the speed limiter that all japanese market vehicles have of 118mph.

I don't think any system would be implimented that would limit your speed so strictly because of the safety factor.

[Popeye the Sailor]

I give it a short period of time before some smart aleck hacker changes gets into the system and makes the speed limit of any given road appear to be 2.7 mph.

[Wanwo]

Yikes, what's going on in the U.K?

I've seen that footage when you drop a piece of trash in the street and someone comes on a loud speaker and tells you to pick it up.

That kind of shit would seriously make me consider leaving the country.

[Statler]

and yet every person from England who I have talked to who has driven here, and all the Brit bike and car magazines, mention how draconian our roads are in terms of speed enforcement and how they are anxious to get back home and drive there.

So methinks there might be some differences between perceptions of each group.

[Slide Panda]

Yikes, what's going on in the U.K?

I've seen that footage when you drop a piece of trash in the street and someone comes on a loud speaker and tells you to pick it up.

That kind of shit would seriously make me consider leaving the country.

As much as we pregnant dog - we've got it pretty easy.  The U.K. is much more of a Nanny state.  If you watch 'TopGear' they love to take jabs at all the silly rules that are in place.  You're referencing the huge network of that police manned CC cameras - they have a camera for every 14 people in the U.K.  Source of that factiod.  Stuff like this isn't new at all over in Europe

[MTBryan]

After a trip to England last weekend, I must say I was impressed by the quality of the drivers, and the fact posted speed limits seemed more reasonable than in this country.
On roads that would be posted at 30 or 40 mph here and enforced strictly, they had a posted speed limit of 60 mph. Often in places it would be difficult to maintain that speed. So, I took it that they have more reasonable speed limits, and leave it up to the drivers to determine if they can safely maintain that speed. But if they ARE caught speeding, the penalties are more severe.
And yes, they do have traffic cameras. But they are easy to spot and deal with and are considered to be a joke by the local drivers. My driver just drove like crazy, then would simply slow down for a few seconds when approaching the huge yellow camera box.
Just my quick observation.

[Wanwo]

It's really jarring that this kind of culture has emerged over there. It just doesn't fit our perception of the U.K. ... China maybe, North Korea probably, but Britain?

Get out while you can.

[DrNo08]

sorry

[DrNo08]

Sorry

[Statler]

let's keep this one to driving if we can.  Or bump it into politics section since it'll be difficult to draw any lines.

[Slide Panda]

- You must hate freedom.  Slavery is freedom in case you didn't know.  It makes perfectly good sense that anti-freedom laws are being (and will be) passed here seeing as how we got attacked b/c "we're free", while we force democracy on others.  If you don't agree with that then you're al-qaeda.   

(/sarcasm) 

My comment was about the UK, just to be clear, since the article I link to is about the UK.  I know you're just funnin' - but we are dancing on the politics line.  I think I might set a record if we get this thread moved again.