#NewYork: how we can stop these van attacks

Another van attack, this time in New York.  It is being treated as terrorism.

We do not have to wait for the present wave of terrorism to burn itself out, as it will surely do. There are things we can do to mitigate these vehicle attacks. We cannot stop them entirely, but we can make it so that after the first impact, the engine cuts out.

Here is a letter that I wrote to the National Security Council back in August. It says IN CONFIDENCE, because there might have been a slight advantage to bring this in without announcement, but they did not acknowledge or answer the letter, so I'm going public. If you see the advantage of the idea, you could send your own. It might get an answer if you send through your MP. My MP is not working for me atm, because I challenged the veracity of a statement he made about fracking.

Anyway, here's the plan:

18/08/17

The Secretary

National Security Council

10 Downing St

London SW1

IN CONFIDENCE

Dear Sir or Madam

re Protecting the public against terrorist attacks using vehicles

I am writing to the NSC as you have the role of developing effective protective security policies and capabilities for government.

The recent horrific terrorist vehicle attack in Barcelona, following other such atrocities in Nice, Berlin, London Westminster, Stockholm, London Bridge, London Finsbury Park and Charlottesville are a cause of great concern, as they turn every vehicle into a potential weapon. Physical defence against such weaponry, building barriers to separate pedestrians from traffic countrywide, would be enormously expensive and disruptive.

There is a far more cost-effective way to protect the public against these attacks.

A quick patent search shows several Vehicle Collision Detectors (for example JP2015081070(A)) registered by serious actors such as Toyota, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd and Denso Corporation. These are designed to warn drivers when they have hit someone. It would be a very simple matter to link one of these warning systems to the on board computer so that the ignition was switched off immediately on impact.

The effect of this would be to prevent the vehicle from continuing to power on through a crowd of pedestrians, and so would mitigate the damage done by this modality of terrorism.

This device could be described as a Vehicle Impact Detector and Immobiliser (VIDI). It could be developed and tested in a matter of weeks.

Every innovation has a potential downside. One is that a vehicle fitted with a VIDI might hit a pedestrian and pin him or her against an immobile structure. On level or upward sloping ground the vehicle could be rolled away. On downward sloping land the situation might persist until the engine could be restarted or the vehicle pulled away. This would in any case be a rare event, so we would have to balance this rare event against the prospect of continued, multiple murders by terrorists, which could conceivably continue for a few more years, with all that means for community cohesion and confidence in Government.

I hope therefore that you will give this proposal serious consideration. Please feel free to pose any questions that you may have.

Sincerely, Richard Lawson