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INTELLIGENT SPEED ADAPTION - A POTENTIAL KILLER?
Recently, there has been much discussion about the proposals to introduce Intelligent Speed Adaption (ISA) for the purposes of safety, fuel savings and reduced journey times.
This seems like a perfect solution for government, to an ongoing 'problem' with the thinking that if the driver or rider won't slow down voluntarily, then an external control system can do it for them.
There is however, one technical aspect of the ISA proposals, that so far seems to have been left out of any discussions on the matter.
Not many people know (including most motorcyclists) that every motorcycle is fitted with an Adjustable Stability Control Unit (ASCU). The ASCU like so many other control elements on a motorcycle such as camber and counter steering, was a fortunate discovery rather than a deliberate invention.
The problem for us motorcyclists is that the ASCU is collocated with the throttle, so that opening the throttle increases stability, whilst closing the throttle has the opposite effect.
The belief by most people that the primary effect of throttle is speed is profoundly wrong and it is this misunderstanding that lies at the heart of the ISA proposals. In fact, it can be conclusively proved that the primary effect of throttle is stability with speed being only a secondary, but sadly easily observable, effect.
From a position of understandable ignorance, the ISA proposals seek to remove the primary source of stability in motorcycles. This would be similar to a proposal by the government to remove disinfectant from hospitals because it is harmful if ingested. Although disinfectant can be poisonous, its benefits far outweigh its downsides and so it is with throttles on motorcycles.
If you are unsure of the fact that the primary effect of throttle is stability, just roll your bike off the stand and try sitting on it with your feet on the pegs and the engine off. How long before you crash into a big heap?
Now try the experiment with the engine running (some sages state that the gyroscopic forces emanating from the crankshaft provide stability), once again you end up in a big heap. Only by putting it in gear and rolling on the throttle can you gain any stability at all.
ISA is profoundly wrong as far as motorcycles are concerned because it has failed to understand one of the fundamentals of motorcycling.
Before we can hope to persuade the proposers of ISA that they are dead wrong, maybe we will have to persuade ourselves of the validity of the rule "The primary effect of throttle is stability, the secondary effect is speed".
There are other problems concerning ISA that need to be aired. For example, the speed readout from a GPS is only reliable when travelling in a straight line. The GPS signal has a certain amount of error built into it, so called Selective Availability (SA), the amount of which is set by the US Government.
This inbuilt error can mean that a position signal can appear to jump anywhere up to 30 metres. This jump error is smoothed out by most of the algorithms present in any GPS receiver, but the resulting speed is only an estimate rather than an actual. Any device relying on an accurate GPS signal would have to make considerable allowances for the jumping errors during cornering. An allowance of at least 10mph would not be unreasonable, which somewhat negates the purpose of the device in the first place [1].
The only device guaranteed not to have SA enabled is the European Union's proposed Galileo satellite system and this is probably why ISA is being aired now. Galileo's primary function is in "asset tracking" where everything that moves, from donkeys to people, can be tracked in real time. The navigation function of Galileo is an incidental if valuable additional benefit, but it is not the primary purpose of this massively expensive project.
Thus the particular points of interest with GMES are "asset tracking" and "direct communications" precisely the elements needed for our big brother eye in the sky!!
Each Galileo satellite will be as big as a bus and have massive processing power. For example according to reliable sources, it will be able to read the RF-ID tag from your identity card through , about 15 feet of concrete [2].
In fact the EU has recently announced the launch of a new programme called "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" which on the face of it is to help with the monitoring of environmental factors and for the assistance of disaster management.
See http://www.gmes.info
In order for Galileo to get the full go-ahead from the European 'Government', it needs to 'solve' a number of problems. The problems with SA and the ISA system will be one such requirement. You can imagine the Governments statement now. "We would like to bring you a satisfactory ISA system so those nasty motorbikes get slowed down, but we need Galileo in order for it to work properly".
The more you study the potential for the Galileo system to erode the freedom of the individual, the more worried you become.
Regards Duncan Mackillop
[1] For details on satellite accuracy. http://www.okono.com/accuracy.htmle.g. while standing still, your GPS readings can "wander" around your location because of "Selective Availability" (SA). Timing and position information from each satellite is "dithered" randomly, within predetermined limits. The intent is to "deny accuracy" to non-military users of GPS, but mounting pressure from business and recreational GPS users may soon put an end to SA.
[2] The difficulty in quoting a reliable source for the ability of Galileo to "see" receivers when shielded by buildings or when in radio shadows is that this technology is still being developed therefore sensitive.
However, what is available are details on high sensitivity GPS and the research being undertaken to identify the much attenuated satellite signal amongst all the noise generated by everyday sources of interference such as common electrical goods etc.
http://www.security.qinetiq.com/ss_hsgps.asp?id=408909009910006
From Norway: I fully agree with what Duncan is writing: Throttle control is essential for the stability of a two-wheeled vehicle. In fact: When I explained the correlation between throttle control and stability to the Public Roads Administration, they put a paragraph in the Norwegian Road Safety Action Plan about ISA and the hazards of taking throttle control away from the rider. Morten Hansen NMCU http://www.nmcu.org/publ/index.html - In English - reports - Handbook 251E also further comments about throttle control - http://www.sportrider.com/ride/146_0002_motorcycle_throttle_control/
It is not intended that this article be MAG policy, but as an independent contribution to the debate on ISA.
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