The GTVeloce.com-munity

The topic of governing a car's speed comes up whenever a rash of crashes occurs and gets aired; these are usually fatal crashes and involve families, or young drivers in modded cars. It gets noticed. First thought, it's a statistical anomoly - just get over it. Second thought, it could be me one of those anomolies runs into next time.

So is governing good? Rules are made to be broken (or so the story goes!) and in the heat of driving some rules get forgotten. Whilst we tend to cool down as we get older, it still happens - especially to guys. "None shall pass" can be a rule to die for, beyond any road rules that may apply. You see it all the time - well I do - on the roads around Sydney. One car has to get past another, just because. To get ahead. To avoid a potential delay - even if the delay would be zilch by the end of the trip. You see a gap, a way to get ahead of everyone else and you take it. Forget manners, or concern for others. It usually involves some extra degree of risk, too. Some extra speed, an unnecessary lane change, some late braking or going 'round a curve a bit faster than is absolutely safe. We all do it, even if it's by accident.

So will governing a car car fix it? Nope, not as we understand governing. Governing as it stands will cut additional torque delivery when you hit a certain speed, irrespective of local limits. You can still speed, still do crazy last-minute manoeuvers. What we really need, if we are serious about stopping injuries on our roads is a major attitude change all round.

Cars should be made safer, even if that means you make it harder to get into it and harder or more uncomfortable to drive. Yes, harnesses, rollbars and helmets - all modded to suit road use, but all designed to make the car safer in an accident.

Smart cars could monitor local limits and let us know of dangers - and yes, possibly even govern our speed if we appear to have 'missed' a speed sign. But only 'smart', GPS, Cellphone or RFID-based governance would work, not the crude stuff we use locally on trucks in Australia.

Drivers should be better at driving. They should be better trained, better disciplined, more thoroughly monitored. Even if that impinges on so-called liberties and actually makes it harder to get a licence and keep it.

Roads should be funded by actual recoveries and fuel priced to reflect the real costs involved. Stop subsidising fuel and road infrastructure - price it to reflect the social and environmental costs.

With the possible exception of some of the 'smart car' stuff little of this will happen, simply because we like our 'liberties' too much. We don't want safe cars, we want ease of access, ease of use, a car at the door and to the door with no effort required. We want the thrills and the risks coupled with the "right" to drive. But we don't want to have to earn that right, do we?