servodude wrote:Is it just the UK being a tech backwater or small/unusual market that causes these things? Stuff doesn't get developed for places that aren't big targets? (And if it was worth it it would be done locally!)
Yeah, but we'd be in a bit of a mess if cars were safety-equipped according to where they were being driven. A car's gotta go where it's gotta go, and especially a hire car. Unless you're asking whether it might be possible to disable some facilities in certain postcodes?
WRT the unusual safety and braking record in Britain, I'd agree that it's Britain that's generally the anomaly. The only other European country where I've found courtesy and safety to rival the UK was Spain - and then only among older drivers. (The young'uns are every bit as suicidal as the Greeks. Or the Italians or the Turks. Or the Poles. Or (shudder) the Belgians. I always think I'm going to die when I'm in a Brussels taxi. )
BJ