UK set to adopt vehicle speed limiters

[Bimmer Owners Club]

Speed limiting technology looks set to become mandatory for all vehicles sold in Europe from 2022, after new rules were provisionally agreed by the EU

Do you agree with this or not, will it save lives? 
Have your say now....vote in the poll 

 

 

[p38fln]

I don't think this will work as well as they're expecting.  Way too much technology involved.  I'm in the USA, but have some experience with a similar, privately owned system to base my opinion on.  

I've driven a semi truck (Not sure what they're called there.  Lorries, but the big ones with a 3 axle long-nose tractor pulling a 53 foot trailer) with similar technology.  It didn't affect the top speed of the truck, which was governed at 65 MPH at all times, but it did send a "speeding report" to the company any time the tattle-tell system thought you were exceeding the speed limit or following too closely.  The number of false reports it sent were absolutely ridiculous.  "Bridge weight limit 45 tons" and due to the font used on that particular sign, it thinks the speed limit is now 45 MPH instead of 55.  Minnesota in particular uses really weird county road numbers - instead of the standard blue pentagon used all over the rest of the USA and Canada they like to use a black and white sign, which also messes with the system.  The company has since moved to a GPS based system, and they still get dozens of false reports a day because of outdated information, such as someone forgetting to enter a higher speed limit after the limit is reduced for construction.  There are also tens of thousands of roads which have the speed limit set by statute without a posted sign and no record anywhere of what the road's limit actually is.  For example, using Minnesota again, if houses are spaced more than 300 yards apart, then the speed limit is 45 MPH, if they are less than 300 yards apart the limit is 35 MPH, unless posted otherwise.  Rural county roads are 55 MPH, but can be posted higher, with interstates running at 70 MPH.  To add to the confusion, every single state is technically a country, and each one has its own little bit of insanity to add to the mix.  It's very similar to what I think the EU speed limit rules must be like.  South Dakota has an 80 MPH maximum speed limit (and it's freaking awesome by the way), Texas has a 75 MPH speed limit in the day time except they have one road that's 85 MPH (because Texas has to always be bigger.  Texas is awesome, but they're very weird about the "we have to be bigger" thing).  Each state has its own rules for the back highways and definitions for when the speed limits go down.  Minnesota simply says if houses are spaced less than 300 yards apart, the speed limit should be 35 MPH.  Wisconsin says something similar, but also adds that a sign must be posted in order for it to take effect for certain roads.  There are also states which are RNP primary states (Speed limit is 55 MPH, but a reasonable and prudent person could travel faster or slower depending on conditions, the limit is more of a suggestion), and the rest which are RNP secondary (Speed limit is 55 MPH, and can't be exceeded, but a reasonable and prudent person would travel slower if conditions were bad).  

They expect to somehow code all of this into a computer? The first time you have a car automatically slam on the brakes and get pulverized by a 90,000 pound truck that wasn't expecting the maneuver...the lawsuits over here would cripple the system within the first year.  

I could understand a maximum governed speed in cars (in fact, don't they already all have a maximum governed speed set by the vendor?), but all the automatic systems discussed here are not going to fare well.  

[Greydog]

Well said Eric, the situation here is not much different what is scary to me is in the UK according to Government figures there were 38.4 million licensed to use the roads in the UK in September last year. That figure doesn't included cars and trucks from the EU and raises the first question how clever will the system be as there are 2 speed measurements to be dealt with MPH KPH? 

Coming back to the UK registered vehicles how many are new and would be fitted with the device? A fairly small percentage I would think, the same of course applies to Europe. So we would have a situation where automatically restricted vehicles will be mixed with unrestricted vehicles on the same roads. Makes me wonder if this is a revenue raiser (automatic fines) or for our safety? Government figures again in 1958 the Road Research Laboratory was set up due to concern over road deaths with 7 million cars on our roads and just under 5000 fatalities, now we have 38 million cars and 1793 fatalities or 0.005%. The reduction is due to a mixture of better vehicles with more safety features for pedestrians and passengers and better roads plus improved driving techniques in my opinion we will struggle to reduce fatal accidents much further without stopping all traffic. The real issue with having 38 million plus vehicles on our roads is pollution, will slowing everything down really help pollution significantly as again not all vehicles have start stop technology? Ultimately and particularly in the UK we have so much congestion that speed is traffic regulated rather than legislated  

What if a vehicle fitted with the system malfunctions and a driver receives a fine? is the driver at fault? What position will insurers take in the event of an accident?

Then there is the personal position imagine how the guy who just paid £100k+ for his new Lambo is going to feel when he is passed by the guy in the 10 year old Fiat Punto because his new car is limited and the Punto isn't, that will be fun to see. 

Big Brother and George Orwell spring to mind, we have more cameras per head of population in the UK than any other Country, we can be tracked by our mobile phones and soon our cars. They want us to have "Smart Meters" in our homes, to what end I fail to see as most of our housing stock is to old to be successfully made carbon neutral.

Glad I am an old bloke but feel sad for my children and their families will they eventually legislate the fun out of life??

 

[j davies]

for me it should work I am a fast driver but when it comes to built up areas I take my time. I live out side a school that has a 20mph speed limit and the cars do 40 or 50 mph most days its like a race track so for me it might stop this

[p38fln]

I saw an article that smart meters very frequently overbill for high-efficiency lighting.  No one knew the exact cause, but power bills are sometimes off by as much as 50% if you have all energy efficient lighting and a smart meter.  The old style meters with the spinning disk are considered to be the more accurate models. 

 

Unfortunately, we have a smart meter here, and power bills are absolutely insane.