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- Drivers might be automatically stopped from speeding
by an electronic device that could be fitted to all cars within 10 years.
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- The Deputy Prime Minister will be told that extensive
trials have been such a success that a phased introduction of speed restricters
would also dramatically reduce road congestion and cut pollution.
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- The system uses satellite navigation to pinpoint the
location of each vehicle, an in-car computer loaded with a road map and
the speed limits for each street in the country and a device to cut off
the fuel supply if the speed limits are exceeded.
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- Any attempt to introduce such a sophisticated device
for controlling speed automatically would see the biggest row over state
interference in road freedom since seatbelt legislation. It is also likely
to be resisted by motor manufacturers who rely heavily on images of fast
cars to sell new models.
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- However, researchers predict that the equipment, which
would cost only a few hundred pounds per car, will come to be widely accepted
as a life-saver, just as seat-belts were despite initial fierce resistance.
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- The trials were commissioned by the Department for Environment,
Transport and the Regions and were carried out by a team at Leeds University
together with the Motor Industry Research Association.
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- Their final report is expected to recommend a 10-year
phasing-in period with the system initially voluntary for older models,
compulsory for all new cars by 2005 and mandatory by the end of the decade.
The report will claim that the benefits will become evident once 60 per
cent of vehicles have been fitted with the device, which will slow the
overall speed of traffic.
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- The system offers the possibility of slowing down traffic
not just to observe speed limits but to cope with particular circumstances
such as outside schools, during traffic jams, following accidents or in
dangerous weather conditions like fog.
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- Dr Oliver Carsten, head of the Leeds team, predicted
the system would soon be standard across the EU. "The idea that people
should have freedom to flout the law is an odd concept when it is a legal
requirement that you comply with the speed limit. When you drive the car
you hardly notice the speed limiter unless you are deliberately trying
to push things too fast."
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- The Department of Transport said: "There are considerable
benefits that could be had in accident reduction and fuel savings, but
it might also mean that people find other ways of speeding."
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