Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely
Speeding off超速行驶 in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch2. But he is in a nasty3 surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine ____1____, he will not be able to start it again.
For now, such devices _____2____ only available for fleets of trucks4 and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle慢慢地移动 down to ordinary cars,5 and ______3____ be available to ordinary cars in the UK____4____ two months.
The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates6 ____5_______ miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS7 satellite positioning receiver. ____6____ the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicles engine management system and prevent the engine _____7___ restarted.
There are even plans for immobilizers ____8____ shut down vehicles on the move8, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.
In the UK, an array of9 technical fixes10 is already making _____9_____ harder for car thieves. The pattern of vehicles crime has changed, says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire11 that is funded in part _____10______ the motor insurance industry.
He says it would only take him a few minutes to _____11______ a novice新手, 初学者 how to steal a car using a bare minimum of tools12. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.
Modern cars are a far tougher艰苦的 proposition任务：13, as their engine management computer will not _____12____ them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out 14 by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this _______13______ achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime15 since 1997.
But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owners keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owners keys double the previous years figure.
Remote-controlled immobilization system would _____14_____ a major new obstacle in the criminals way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the ____15____expects.
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