Kodak's Digital Strategy Starting To Pay Off >>
<< Microsoft Says Only Legit Owners Get Fixes
 tdicon 

Too Much Free Time

by Michael Costanza

Tue, Jan 25th 2005 11:46pm





Um, You Didn't Happen To Be Cruising, Did You?

from the good-enough-for-government-work dept

Who knew? Apparently cruise control kills! You thought you were being a good citizen, conserving fuel by using your car more efficiently and avoiding varying speeds that can cause traffic problems and accidents. But, the reality was you were causing all sorts of problems -- at least in Belgium. The Belgian government has decided to outlaw cruise control on certain stretches of road in an attempt to reduce accidents. Now, public safety is an admirable goal; but it is unrealistic to think that making cruise control illegal will be of much help. Enforcement would seem to be nearly impossible. To "catch" a driver in the act of breaking the law would require an accident in which the state of the cruise control during the crash has to be knowable after it has occurred -- or would require a really honest driver. While the rise of car black boxes makes collecting vehicle state information possible, once you've reached the point where a black box reading is needed, you'd think that the problem was much bigger than someone relying too much on cruise control. Speaking of which, shouldn't speed and recklessness laws cover the effects of using cruise control inappropriately?

5 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Gijs, Jan 26th, 2005 @ 12:43am

    The whole story

    News sites never post the whole story :), After a very serious car/truck accident involving a big truck with cruise control last year killing 5 poeple that where about 23 years of age. The goverment dicided to ban the use of cruise control.
    Hope this makes the story clear..

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    Mike (profile), Jan 26th, 2005 @ 1:11am

    Re: The whole story

    Interesting. It's still not clear, however, that *cruise control* was the cause of the accident -- rather than a driver who didn't properly handle his truck. Why blame the technology?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Cruiser Dude, Jan 26th, 2005 @ 4:54am

    How Cruise Contril Kills

    Try driving in norwthwestern Ontario with cruise control. The car maintains a constant speed, but you feel like you are on a roller coaster. Thee road is hundreds of miles of twists, turns, and hills.

    I made the mistake of trying to leave cruise control on, but I nearly went off the road. You really do have to adjust your speed when going over hills on narrow roads.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Chris, Jan 26th, 2005 @ 5:03am

    No Subject Given

    I rarely use cruise control because I do feel less alert when it is on. I think the lack of involvement in controlling the cars speed can sort of lull a driver into a less engaged state.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    TJ, Jan 26th, 2005 @ 6:42pm

    Less rigid solution?

    How about starting with an education campaign, explaining why cruise control is dangerous on certain stretches of roads that are really twisty etc.? Post warning signs at these areas. That might be as effective or more-so than just making it illegal. People don't follow authority without reason well, just look at obedience to speed limits when they are posted too low for the road conditions.

    Sooner or later someone will dream up a tech solution to shut off cruise control in certain areas. As lawyer-happy as the computers in new car's are, I'm surprised cruise control doesn't stop working when the windshield wipers are on.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Kodak's Digital Strategy Starting To Pay Off >>
<< Microsoft Says Only Legit Owners Get Fixes
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Saturday

12:00pm: Sophisticatedjanedoe / FightCopyrightTrolls Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week (42)
9:00am: Awesome Stuff: Cool Product Designs (7)

Friday

7:39pm: Rice University Professor: SkyNET's Gonna Take Ur Jerbs! (56)
6:33pm: Make Art, Not Law (8)
5:27pm: AP's Attempt At DRM'ing The News Shuts Down (13)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: DIY Junk Food (3)
3:40pm: Suburban Express Goes Double Or Nothing On Their Aggressive Behavior (8)
2:34pm: Want To Destroy Any Hope Of Serious Cybersecurity? Give The DOJ Its Desired Backdoor Wiretaps On All Communications (20)
1:34pm: Nintendo Exchanges Goodwill For Control; Issues Mass Monetization Claims On Let's Play Videos (31)
12:32pm: Indian Publishing Firm Can't Take A Little Criticism, Threatens Blogger With $1 Billion Lawsuit, Criminal Charges (13)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This