The War on Britain's Roads (BBC Documentary / tabloid tv)

I remember seeing on television years ago technology aimed at vehicles that dealt with (some issues of) speeding. A transponder on speed limit signs would alert the vehicle to the speed limit it had entered, and wouldn't allow it to exceed the maximum speed for that zone.

I'm pretty sure there are times when going over a speed limit is the safer thing to do, just like there are times when jumping a red light (or using the pavement) is the safer thing to do.

Not that it should be de rigueur, just that there shouldn't be a ban so effective (enforced by technology in the vehicles) that incidents then occur because the vehicle wasn't able to get out of the situation in time.

I can't think of an exception, but there always is one as nothing is truly black and white and the law trails reality by quite a margin.

True. Happened recently with me and a taxi that was fitted with GPS.

Black cabs have been tracked for many years. There was a rape accusation incident well over a decade ago in which a woman claimed to have been raped in a black cab by the driver, and during that investigation the positions of every cab in the area she described were pulled and compared to build the suspect list.

This is where it started to unravel for the lady accusing the driver as the record of black cabs in that area was complete and every one could show their movements, their fares, and it was all verifiable to the GPS records... none of them could've done it.

It eventually turned out that the lady in question had a boyfriend, and had cheated and had sex outside with someone she'd met in a club, then got a black cab home and during the confrontation with the boyfriend she'd claimed that she'd been raped to cover up the fling, which had led to the accusation.

The thing that stood out for me from that was that black cabs were tracked and recorded like nothing else. Not only are their drivers vetted to the highest standards, but the vehicles are constantly monitored.

I remember thinking back then that this was the future, and for private cars a risk to privacy and democracry. It was way more expensive back then to do this too, today it is cheaper than a spare tyre or two.