Are you, as an adult with a driver’s license, incapable of reading and obeying simple traffic laws? Are you too occupied with anything other than properly driving your vehicle that you tend to find yourself speeding? Do you live in a country that has more speed cameras than it does traffic lights? Well, Ford of Europe has a breakthrough for you! Dubbed “Intelligent Speed Limiter” and debuting on the Europe-only S-max, this system combines the adaptive cruise control and sign reading technology. The driver sets a maximum speed limit for the vehicle, then as the vehicle travels along, it reads the road signs and adjust speeds based upon posted speed limits. If the car is going too fast, the system won’t hit the brakes, but instead reduce fuel supply to smoothly decelerate. If that isn’t enough to slow the car down…say, as you’re driving down a hill…the system will sound an alarm. Hitting the accelerator or brake pedal will disengage the system, and you will be in control of the vehicle’s speed once again.

How about this: how about the driver concentrate on doing their job behind the wheel of the car? While this system isn’t being used in the United States yet, I sincerely doubt that any judge would accept “But, Your Honor, my Ford can’t speed! It does the thinking for me!” as a plausible defense. If you are not in control of the speed of the vehicle, you are not driving! Yes, there are tons of speed cameras in Europe, but they label them a good distance out and they are big, yellow boxes…how hard are they to miss? Our cars are becoming more intelligent, and we are becoming dumber as a result.