At least two states – Virginia and Illinois – are or soon will be enforcing speed limits via speed limiters attached to the cars of people who “speed.” The latter word is bracketed within air fingers quote marks to deride the arbitrary yet vicious business of framing anyone who drives above a certain speed is deserving of punishment.

For “speeding.”

Are people punished for running “too fast”? Well, why not? Isn’t it possible that a person running too fast might run into someone else and knock them down? Wouldn’t it be safer if they slowed down? You could even say that running – like “speeding” – “kills,” since it could. Hyperbole? Certainly. But hyperbole doesn’t obviate the point.

It just brings it into focus.

People are punished every day for doing nothing more than driving faster than a number on a sign says they’re allowed to – and the worst thing is many people have accepted this with insouciance as just the way it is. That’s true, of course – about it being just the way it is – but it doesn’t mean it ought to be accepted with insouciance, because it is outrageous. An affront to both common sense and justice. Because there is no justice in punishing people for something that hasn’t resulted in any harm to anyone and (in most of these cases of “speeding”) could not even plausibly be argued stood a meaningful chance of causing harm. It is doubtful even one out of 100 “tickets” – as these extortion notes are styled – are handed out for driving 100 MPH through a school zone (the usual hyperbolic argument trotted out by defenders of speed limits).

The majority of “tickets” handed out are for not crawling along at the preposterous speeds of 25, 35 or 45 MPH on secondary roads – as if it were 1920 and modern cars had Model T brakes. The 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit that held for 20 long years is perhaps the best (worst) example of this business of punishing people for driving faster than speed limits set so low as to assure almost every driver on the road is a “speeder.”

Perhaps the most hyperbolic – and unjust – tickets are those issued by states such as VA that define as “reckless” driving (a serious misdemeanor punishable with jail time up to a year as well as automatic loss of driving “privileges” for a year) getting caught driving faster than 80 MPH on any road and 20 MPH faster  than any posted speed limit. To grasp the ridiculousness of this, consider that the legal speed limit on many VA highways is 70 and almost everyone is doing at least 75. Just a little bit faster than that is  . . . “reckless.”

It’s ridiculous. But deadly serious.

How about “20 MPH” over? It sounds fast but often isn’t, really. A for-instance being roads with say a 35 MPH posted speed limit and everyone – just about – is doing 45-50. Just a little faster and it’s . . . “reckless.”

Get two of these “reckless” driving tickets and it’s look out, as OJ used to say. They’ll take away your driving “privileges” and the insurance mafia will kick up what the government forces you to pay for harms you haven’t caused to twice or three times as much as before, which will probably make it too expensive for you to drive.

Legally, at any rate.

Well, now VA and IL – and it’s not just them – want to kick it up a notch. It’s not enough to threaten “speeders” with up to a year in jail, loss of their “privileges” and thousands in fines, lawyer fees and insurance mafia “adjustments.” The new punishment – which it goes without saying is in addition to the existing punishments – requires the convicted “speeder” to have a speed limiter installed in his vehicle.

“A qualifying offense is a conviction or order of court supervision for excessive speeding over 25 miles per hour over the limit or reckless driving,” says state Rep. Martha Deuter, who sponsored the bill (number 4948) in Illinois.

She says this is “equitable,” by the way – because it is a way to allow the “speeders” to continue driving – just without “speeding.”

What she means is that most (75 percent, it is estimated) of the “speeders” who have their “privileges” rescinded drive anyhow – because how else are they going to get to work or shop or deal with the day-to-day necessary things that are difficult if not possible to realistically do (for many) without driving?

“In the United States, a car isn’t just a way to get around, it’s the key to economic mobility,” Deuter said. “By switching our enforcement mechanisms to be proactive rather than reactive, we’re able to build a more equitable system that holds super speeders accountable while still allowing them to go to work, visit their families and be part of their communities.”

Italics added.

And isn’t that special?

Deuter and those in her camp are being proactive – and equitable! In other words, they are being nice. In the Lords of Discipline sense.

Thank you, sir. Well, ma’am! May I have another?

Us, too – because these speed limited vehicles will become speed limit enforcers in their own way – by operating as rolling roadblocks, preventing other drivers from “speeding.” This is already happening – on the highways. Most big rigs are speed limited and that’s why you’ll often find yourself jammed up behind a pack of semis that are crawling along at just barely the speed limit. They can’t go any faster – and so neither can you.

And this is just the beginning – because (drum roll, please) pretty much every new car and most cars made since about five years ago already have speed limiters built in. They’re just not being used to limit speed. For now.

Here’s the situation:

About five years ago, the various car manufacturers – not all, but a majority – began to include what they market as speed limit assistance “technology” as standard equipment in the vehicles they make. It is increasingly part of the standard suite of “safety technology” they increasingly do not give you the choice to skip (assuming you want to buy the vehicle).

Assistance being the ground-laying for limiting.

A little icon pops up. It looks just like the speed limit signs by the side of the road. If you’re “speeding,” the icon turns red and sometimes flashes. This is marketed as “assisting” the driver to not “speed.” The supposition being that he didn’t realize how fast he was going – as opposed to being hectored by the car about his speed. Anyhow, as this is normalized – as people get used to the hectoring – the assistance will be turned up to limiting. Understand that the gas pedal in a modern vehicle is like the gas pedal in an arcade driving game in that all you’re doing is sending input to a computer that decides to let you accelerate. The same electronically controlled capability to allow you to accelerate can also be used to prevent you from accelerating – and “speeding,” too.

This is what’s wanted, ultimately.

Doubt it?

Well, the National Traffic Safety Board has recommended the mandatory adoption of speed limiters nationwide, regardless of driving records. And what about vehicles that aren’t limited? Well, they’ll be decreed unsafe and so illegal to drive.

This is what comes of giving them an inch.

Let them define “speeding” as a punishable offense and – inevitably – “speeding” will be rendered impossible.

 . . .

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