It’s no secret that anyone who cares to and has the resources (ie a nice, fat intelligence budget and ghosts to spend it) could track you on your smartphone when you travel. Now the European Union is thinking of raising the stakes a little by fitting “black boxes” into vehicles.

“Project Veronica” – now there’s a nice little benign name for you – has apparently cost the EU some £2.4 million so far as offcials and technicians investigate how these Event Data Recorders (EDR), could monitor a vehicle’s speed and the actions of its driver. Thousands of cars – most notably taxicabs – in the EU already have the devices fitted.

The EU says it will enhance driver safety and in the event of an accident, allow parties such as insurance companies and car hire firms to find out who was at fault and take the appropriate action.

The scheme’s opponents – privacy watchdogs and the like – reckon there would be serious questions around the admissability of such accident data in a court of law.

However much bureaucrats pour cold water on peoples’ fears, the more the huddled masses should realise that this kind of thing is often the thin side of the wedge.

In fact, the whole issue misses the point that the perfect road safety device is not a car that protects the driver but one that hurts them if they drive badly. One good idea that various observers have punted from time to time would be a steel spike that shoots out of the steering wheel and impales the driver, in any collision, even a fender-bender? Imagine how carefully people would drive then.

Illustration: Cover of science-fiction novel by Philip K. Dick
Photo: Event Data Recorder

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3. Lufthansa to bring back Wifi