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Comment by enlyth | Hacker News Reader

I actually wouldn't mind a thing like this that I can manually enable, I am constantly afraid of accidentally speeding and always have my satnav on so it shows the max speed (here in the UK we get penalty points, not just fines, and enough of them can mean you have a temp ban from driving). Don't really like the idea of this being automatically triggered and enforced though.

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Automatic triggering seems like a recipe for disaster. My car has a version of this that shows the current speed limit on the display. It is frequently wrong. A road near me shows up as 20mph despite being 30 or 40 in different parts. Other times it sees signs for access roads or side roads and misinterpret them as for the current road (sometimes saying 20mph in a 60mph zone).

It's a nice idea, but the tech really isn't there yet. I guess a few high profile incidents and they'll be forced to fix it.

Yeah, you couldn't possibly roll out automatic triggering without also creating laws to uniformize how speed limits are set and data shared about them across the US (I don't refer to taking away agency from the many local jurisdictions that can affect speed limits for the bajillions of stretches of roadway in the country-- just standardizing requirements so that when some tiny little town adjusts the speed limit frfom 25 to 20 on a 2 block stretch of main street, except after 6PM monday to friday, there is a standard way for them to notify a national DOT database electronically and they are required to do that prior to enforcement)

That alone probably makes it a nonstarter in the USA, right?

> enough of them can mean you have a temp ban from driving

And it's not a lot. Being caught a bit over 3 times will lose you a licence, or 2 if you're a new driver. Sometimes you can get an awareness course and get a "pass" on the first time but I think only once every few years. Exceed the limit by too much and you don't get that option and you also get more points. You also will find insurance punishingly expensive for years afterwards.

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