William Atkins
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 19:45
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 4
Over 40,000 people are killed on U.S. roads and about 2,000 on Australian roads each year. The Australian government has recognized its own country’s problem of ignoring driving laws and it is doing something proactive about it. Maybe the United States will follow along?
A new anti-speeding device is being tested in New South Wales (NSW). It is called the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) unit. It will be tested on Wollongong roads during the month of June 2009. Wollongong is the third largest city in NSW.
Over 40,000 people are killed each year in the United States annually, a country with a population of about 290 million—about 14 people out of 100,000.
In Australia, about 2,000 people are killed each year, out of a population of about 22 million—about 10 people out of 100,000.
The NSW government, thus, is testing a device that will limit the speed of drivers because excessive speed is one of the primary ways that people are killed while driving.
NSW has the most people in Australia of any of its states, with approximately 7 million people, or about 32% of the total Australian population.
The ISA unit operates by allowing drivers to visualize their speeds while driving. Located on the dashboard, it senses a driver’s speed with the use of overhead satellites in space. The global positioning system (GPS) satellites [senses speeds of drivers, while] all of the speed limits of NSW roads [have been ] programmed into a ground-based computer/GPS receiver. [corrected 5-21-09, per Telic]
If the speed of a car goes over the posted legal limit, a warning sounds. If the driver ignores the warning, the device eventually cuts all power to the car because a cut-off switch has been installed between the accelerator and the engine.
Page two continues with a discussion from the director of the Centre for Road Safety, and others.
