Speed Limiters To Be Fitted As Standard On All New Cars
Friday, 5. April 2019
All new cars sold in the UK from 2022 will have speed limiters fitted as standard. The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that it will follow the ruling from the European Commission on safety technology regardless of whether we are inside or outside of the EU at the time.
The limiters, called Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) were announced in March and have now been approved by the EU. ISA systems, or as I refer to them, Big Brother uses traffic sign recognition, cameras and/or GPS information to limit the speed of the car in a particular area by reducing the engine power and adjusting the speed if the driver doesn’t do it voluntarily.
TV reports suggested that the driver could override the limiter and motoring organisations suggested that this was needed in cases of emergency where a swift boost of power could avoid an accident and I agree but looking at the ruling more closely – yes the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) recommends a full On/Off switch to allow drivers to override the limiter they actually went on to say,’to aid public acceptance at introduction’, which suggests this is only a temporary measure before being fixed and unable to be switched off.
However, there is also a suggestion that drivers will still be able to override the limiter by pressing hard on the accelerator although the limiter will be switched on every time we start the car. It also seems that there is a difference of opinion between the DfT and the ETSC because in a briefing released by the DfT it said that it saw this change to be a ‘step change in Road Safety’.
However, the DfT said that it expected the limiters ‘to give drivers feedback when the speed limit is exceeded rather than limiting the car’s speed’. The ETSC advises, ‘If the driver does not apply the brakes (when entering a lower limit), the vehicle would, in any case, slow down naturally to the new speed limit by reducing engine power’. Confused or what? I guess this will happen a lot when we take over our own lawmaking.
All new models given type approval from May 2022 onwards must have these systems while cars on the market by that date must have them by May 2024 – no I don’t either but that’s the wording. So given what the DfT has said I’m still none the wiser as to what will happen. Limiters that advise the speed limit or limiters that slow you down? By Graham Hill
