Greg Beato on Speed Limits and High-Tech Surveillance Technology

|


Imagine a highway where the speed limit bumps up to 85 MPH on days when it's sunny and windless and there are few cars on the road. Or drops down to 55 MPH on Saturday nights between midnight and 3 AM, because that's when a high number of fatal accidents occur. Next, imagine that the speed limit on that highway is designed to encourage positive behavior rather than penalize bad behavior, for example by offering drivers a weekly $25 reward to comply with speed limits. As Greg Beato notes, the increasingly omniscient surveillance technologies that are already being deployed on roadways across the U.S. don't need to be so unilaterally oppressive.