Car O'Clock

Recently, the EU announced its intention to introduce compulsory GPS controlled speed-limiters to all new cars sold from 2022. As expected, they have stated this would make a huge difference to the number of lives lost on the road. Already, Australian road safety authorities have expressed great enthusiasm for the new EU rules…rest assured, there’s no escape for us – all European imports are sure to be fitted with the new technology.

Sadly, this is depressing news for those who love cars and love driving. I suppose it was inevitable really. From the day most cars were equipped with GPS as standard equipment, the opportunity to control not just the car but also the driver was just too appealing for those who regulate our roads.

Speed has always been too easily blamed as the cause of most road accidents. Yet, there is very little credible evidence to back it up. Drink and drugs can be assessed accurately nowadays and they obviously account for many fatal road accidents. The real influence of speed is far more complex, however.

 While excessive speed must be a factor in many accidents, how do we separate this from errors such as misjudgment of road conditions, stupidity, lack of attention, tiredness or even poor vision? The answer is, if you are a ‘road safety expert,’  you don’t bother.  It’s so much easier to just tick the ‘excessive speed’ box every time. What’s more, it’s a simple explanation that politicians and Joe Public can understand.

And, when there’s some evidence that road accidents and fatalities are coming down, the vastly improved safety standards of modern cars are ignored and the success is usually attributed to the effort taken to make drivers slow down. It makes it so much easier to justify ever lower speed limits and even heavier penalties for speeding to prove the pollies are actually doing something.

To discover what the roads will be like when everyone travels at the same speed, you only have to spend some time driving in Victoria. Thanks to the draconian, no tolerance speeding laws in that state, you simply don’t see anyone speeding because it’s all too easy to receive a hefty fine and lose points off your license for simply exceeding the posted speed by just 2-5 km/h or so.

Consequently, driving on a Victorian freeway is a surreal experience with every car driving pretty much at the posted limit in every lane, usually traveling far too close and changing lane with impunity, probably to relieve the tedium and frustration of it all. Quite how these conditions could make driving safer I honestly don’t know, it feels anything but.

After spending a frustrating week driving in this anti-speed state recently, I had a foretaste of a future driving hell. A hell where you:

I suspect this is what will happen everywhere when speed-limited cars become mandatory. Driving this way is also sleep-inducing as you trudge along at the same speed for long periods of time, with little opportunity to go faster or slower – my right leg was becoming cramped after half an hour. If you go faster, you become a social pariah and if you slow down, some clown will tailgate you in seconds – in every lane.

I understand and support sensible speed limits in urban areas, but the overly conservative speed limits on many Australian highway roads will surely cause huge frustration and more tailgating than we experience right now. I know that the ability to occasionally accelerate above the posted limit has often allowed me to avoid potentially hazardous situations. And, yes, I know that the new GPS limiters should give you a few seconds to exceed the limit, but how long is long enough? And, how distracting will it be to have Big Brother car screaming a warning at you when it believes you to should slow down again?

From my brief experience driving in Victoria, it’s hard to see how speed limiters will lower the accident rate in the future, especially on busy highways.

I was also lucky enough to drive in SA recently where the 110 km/h speed limit on many country roads seemed much more realistic. Everyone seemed to observe the limit and the traffic flowed easily and naturally in a state a little less obsessed with speed. Indeed,  the 110km/h speed limit was seen on roads that would be limited to 80 km/h in Victoria or my home state of NSW.

No wonder even little old ladies pass me at 100km/h every morning on the Great Western Highway in the Blue Mountains. I think that’s because the posted speed limit is set unnaturally slow on a wide dual carriageway road out of town rather than me sharing road space with lunatic old ladies!

Regardless of where you drive, it appears our driving future will be increasingly GPS-controlled and that’s either reassuring or terrifying, depending on your point of view. One thing’s for sure, for car enthusiasts it certainly doesn’t sound like fun. Only time will tell if it proves to be any safer.

It will also be interesting to see if car buyers will continue to buy high-performance cars once the speed-limited laws are implemented. I’m already compiling a list of cars will that will entertain me at low-speeds. So far it includes old American cruisers, Land Rovers, assorted classics and vintage cars among various other oddball ideas. All options are on the table.

Pre- 2022 cars might be the answer in the short-term. Not for very long I suspect – I can’t imagine drivers of older cars will be allowed to sail past speed-limited post-2022 new cars once the new regulations are in force – I have a vision of a frustrated McLaren driver being blown away by an old van! Compulsory aftermarket GPS speed-limiters, or something similar, will surely be introduced.

Well, it has to be track days, doesn’t it? Maybe a Formula V, or Formula Ford for cheap, high- speed excitement. I reckon these would be good budget options for me, although a hot hatch, like a Clio RS (or similar), might be a good road/track choice too.

Call me a Luddite, if you will, but I can’t imagine having much fun driving a GPS-controlled electric car that most of us could be driving in the next 5/10 years. No, I reckon I’ll be the annoying old git grinning like a fool as he wrings the neck of his old Citroen 2CV at the head of the queue – haha.