I have a feeling that by then, auto-speed control will be a no-delete option on all vehicles and auto-speed ticketing will be the norm with automatic guilt and no defence.
And don't think this is all pie in the sky and big-brother double-speak. The proles are already well on the way to this non-thinking state.
End of reasoned comment and beginning of endless rant, turn off now if you are easily offended or bored!
Brian
So, you are a glutton for punishment then....
When was the last time you were overtaken, on the bike or in the car? Apart from on the motorway and even then only at the dead of night, I never get overtaken. No one even comes up behind me unless they are on the way to the scene of their next accident. Most folks are already 'not driving' their cars and more and more bikers are riding like car drivers, sitting in traffic queues, not filtering to the front at lights and simply going with the flow of cars rather than using the bike for what it was designed for.
I am sick of having to flash or honk smaller bikes out of my way when they finally grind to a halt while filtering, obviously convinced they are riding a Gold Wing, with a sidecar! They look at me as if I am mad (moi?) when I weave round them and forge onward; if the mirrors go through, so do I. Cars nearly always move over when they see you filtering, unlike a few years ago, perhaps they think the blue flashing lights on my bike make me a policeman
I am sick of being flashed by cars when I overtake in the car. Oncoming cars hundreds of metres away flash their lights long after my car is back on my side of the road. Even cars I overtake flash me. It is as if they think I am doing something wrong.
It won't take much to move from this state to the state where it IS illegal to overtake; let's face it, it really is too dangerous to allow just anyone to do it. I followed a guy along the M4 last week. Midday, no traffic to speak of and he was lolloping along at an almost decent 90, in the middle lane? I was in lane 1, occasionally moving out to overtake the odd truck. He stuck to the middle lane for mile after mile. And then we came to a clutch of cars and trucks. I indicate, pull out to lane 3 in good time and he just slams on the brakes and stays in the middle lane. That was the last I saw of him! He, and his extremely expensive, not to mention indecently rapid, V8 Mercedes AMG GT are probably still in lane 2.
The roads are full of them! They never overtake. Them and the ones who don't really break the speed limit on the 'open' road, but never slow down in town!!
These are our enemy. These are the ones, and there are millions of them, who will dictate our motoring future.
I really think we should all be making the most of our current freedoms. I think 'our' generations have had the best of the automotive world. Perfomance cars became widely available and affordable in the late '60's and early '70's and once the Japanese bike makers got their act together we had performance, affordability, reliability and relative longevity. The roads were still relatively empty and you and I have been blessed; the mere thought of a bike like a K13 or any of its competitors when I were a lad were simply day-dreams.
But it is all coming to an end. Not this year, not in the next decade (and after that I won't care) but within your kids lifetime. The (rather gorgeous, not that I noticed) girlfriend of the guy next door is taking driving lessons. In an automatic? Why? Why would you do that unless you are in some way disabled. I can understand driving an automatic, but limiting yourself to an automatic licence seems anathema to me! She told me she 'hates driving' but has to to simply get around. I have a feeling that she will have her deposit down for a driverless car as soon as they are announced.
Brian (who thinks, nay, knows that he has had the best of the open roads and the motors to go with them
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