27 March (Part 1) - Defeating Brussels
Last night’s Resources Scrutiny meeting was quite interesting but it will take more time to
report than is available right now, so here’s a quick filler.
The buffoons who are determined to control every aspect of our lives have come up with another
set of ideas and the one that is attracting the most publicity is limiting the speed of your car.
Politicians are rightly worried about the slow down in the
car industry but whose fault is that? In 2012 I bought a car that was not
subject to Vehicle Excise Duty. A Conservative Chancellor then changed the rules such
that I couldn’t replace it and pay no VED without spending a silly amount of
money, so I put off the purchase. Diesel owners are in a similar predicament,
politicians have made their cars worthless so the cost of buying new effectively
goes up and they probably don’t.
Such examples are fairly numerous. Politicians do not appear to be very bright at times.
As
I’ve mentioned before I eventually replaced my 2012 KIA last September and the new car
can do all the things that were mandated by Brussels yesterday. It will steer
down the motorway without touching the steering wheel (1). It will slam on the
brakes if it thinks I am going to hit something (2) and start yelling at me if it
detects I am not paying attention, but what about this speed limiting thing?
The basic set up menu allows me to specify a maximum speed. It works but I soon
switched it off. Then while driving, one press on a steering wheel button will limit the vehicle to any
speed you like. 10, 30, 53, 67 m.p.h. Literally any speed you choose. That works
too but I don’t often use it.
The sort of thing that the EU dictators are talking about is somewhat different. The car reads speed limit signs, any
warning sign actually, and flashes it up on the dashboard (Photo 1) and the head
up display. A menu setting allows it to make a warning sound if you go over the
limit. That is switched off too.
It can’t be too difficult to link the speed limiting system that is already
installed with the sign reading system.
So the system is possible but will it work in practice? I doubt it. If the
information is coming from the Sat Nav - and my car does that too - it is
disabled by pulling out the SD card. My dashboard symbols are derived from
radar. It’s a panel at the front of the car (Photo 2). Stick a postage stamp on it and it stops working.
An unfortunate friend ran into a pheasant and smashed his radar panel. It cost
over £2,000 to replace. The extra costs of these systems will be another reason
people put off buying new cars. Politicians simply don’t think, especially European ones.
1) Testing with hands just brushing the wheel in the
early hours of the morning and nothing else around.
2) There is a place in Bexley where the road design is so stupid that I have to
look behind me to be sure I am not going to scare the life out of the bloke
behind by unnecessarily braking.