Speed Gun

‘EDUCATION is only one of the tools in the Government’s armoury as it battles to turn the clock back and return the country to a better age.

A getaway car

[Actually, given Tony Blair’s oft-repeated mantra, education probably counts as three tools – or about 10, after the Treasury has finished with it.]

High technology provides another tool which will help achieve the same goal – a device that can bring speeding cars to a halt at the flick of a switch.

The Guardian reports that police forces in Britain and the US have ordered tests on the system that delivers a blast of radio waves powerful enough to knock out a car’s electronics.

It was devised by David Giri, a physics professor at the University of California, who left to set up a company called ProTech to develop the invention.

A prototype is due to be ready next summer – but Dr Giri concedes that it will only work on newish cars.

‘It works on most cars built in the past 10 years because their engines are controlled by computer chips,’ he says. ‘If we can disrupt the computer, we can stop the car.’

Presumably, though, if the criminals have any sense, they will quickly trade in their Ford Mondeos or whatever they drive these days for an old Hillman Avenger or Morris Minor.

The cops can then sell off their expensive motors and return to a more innocent time travelling by bike and playfully cuffing the ears of children caught scrumping in their neighbours’ orchards…’

Posted: 12th, July 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink