Congestion Charging
Assume that in 10 years time we had a congestion charging system based on the location and movement of cars and lorries.
The locations could be derived from a GPS system (the upcoming European Galileo system perhaps?). Also assume that the
government had one of those rare episodes of foresight and had required that the location system be tied in with the
vehicle's engine management system. The numerous extra benefits of such a system would solve some of today's difficult problems:
- cars could not be stolen. Drivers could phone their particular details to some central station and that car's
engine management system could be disabled. Even if the driver were forced from his car he could still disable it
within seconds and so it would be pointless stealing the car.
- all cars would be traceable. If the locations of all cars are kept for a period of time (e.g. a year)
then all cars that were near a crime scene could be immediately identified.
- the police would not have to chase joy riders, armed robbers or others. They could disable the cars the same
way that a driver could disable his car as noted above.
- cars would not be able to speed. The government/councils could decide the maximum sensible speed limit for
every stretch of road and the location system coupled with the engine management system could prevent a driver from
exceeding the speed limit.
- it may even be possible to include iris recognition in such a system. This would be a means of preventing banned
drivers from driving!
- all cars would have to be taxed and insured to be able to be on the road. Any car not taxed or insured would
automatically have its engine management system disabled.
Note that none of the above possibilities is revolutionary as they are all feasible with today's technology.
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