Getting Harder To Speed

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Canadian auto regulators are testing a system that would enforce speed limits by making it harder to push down the car's gas pedal once the speed limit is passed, according to a newspaper report.

The system being tested by Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Department of Transportation, uses a global positioning satellite device installed in the car to monitor the car's speed and position. If the car begins to significantly exceed the speed limit for the road on which it's travelling the system responds by making it harder to depress the gas pedal, according to a story posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail's Website.

The pilot test, using 10 cars driven by volunteers, is believed to be the first in North America, although similar systems have been tested in several European countries, according to the newspaper.

The agency is also testing another system that warns drivers with a voice alarm and a light whenever they start to speed, the newspaper said. Those systems are already on sale, according to the report. The company that makes the alarm device, the Otto Driving Companion, has already sold 400 of the units in Winnipeg alone, the newspaper said.