REARVIEW:YOU MAY HAVE heard a recent call by the south Kerry coroner for all young drivers to be obliged to have a speed limiter fixed to any car they are allowed to drive in a bid to stop the road carnage.
He means well, I have no doubt. And I understand his frustration. I imagine it’s heartbreaking to have to preside over what must seem like a never-ending stream of inquests into the deaths of young people needlessly killed in crashes.
Which is why I’m sad to have to report that his idea is bunkum – for a whole host of reasons.
The first is that speed alone isn’t really the issue. Poor judgement, carelessness, inexperience, fatigue, alcohol, drugs and bravado are far more dangerous.
Secondly, sometimes you need to be able to go fast. What happens if you are overtaking a tractor, an oncoming truck comes out of nowhere and the limiter kicks in, leaving you high and dry? Where do you go? Into a wall?
Finally, the type of people who really want to speed will find a way. Limiters are as easy to bypass as a locked mobile phone. All the introduction of limiters will do is create an underground market in hacking them.
A far better solution would be to attach small cameras to the rear-view mirror of teenage drivers’ cars that stream video wirelessly to a website where their parents can watch them.
The beauty of this plan is that parents don’t actually have to tune in. The threat that they might be is deterrent enough. Nothing quells youthful rebellion like the realisation the mammy may be watching, arms folded and face contorted into that “disappointed” look that has crushed the spirit of generations of teenagers.