Stop the beginnings - assistance systems as a prerequisite for road use?
The idea recently formulated by the VCS, the Swiss Transport Club , is alarming. In order to prevent a necessary increase in the capacity of the Gotthard road tunnel, the VCS proposes that in future only vehicles with assistance systems ( lane departure warning system, emergency brake assistant, adaptive cruise control) should be allowed to drive through the tunnel.
What such a regulation could mean for the owners and drivers of older vehicles can be counted on one hand. And, if such a provision applies to a tunnel, why not apply it to all tunnels with contraflow and, for example, all non-directionally separated highways? That would be the end of oldtimers and youngtimers in general road traffic, apart from exceptions. The VCS envisages a time horizon of 15 years for such a development (at the Gotthard). So we would be ready by 2030.
Of course, assistance systems can tend to make traffic safer, but the current solutions do not necessarily make it any smoother. A Gotthard tunnel in which all vehicles with distance-regulating cruise control drive one behind the other according to the current state of the art could also end in a debacle, as it is precisely these systems that promote a hand organ effect that could quickly bring the flow of traffic to a standstill. And it is well known that these systems do not work flawlessly either. But to define such systems as a prerequisite for traffic participation excludes a considerable proportion of today's cars!
So let's resist such tendencies today rather than tomorrow if we want to continue driving our old cars.
