We all love to go fast, right? We all love the thrill of speed, as it builds up the adrenaline. For most car enthusiasts, speed is a way to break free from life. A way to reduce stress. However, as well know with great power comes great responsibility. Not everyone is very responsible when it comes to speed hence why you have so many speed-related deaths. The European Union (EU) has clocked onto this and has decided that all new cars must have mandatory speed limiters.
This isn’t a new thing though. Japan for decades has had a legal mandatory speed limit for all domestic cars to have a speed limiter of 112 mph. Of course, many car enthusiasts in Japan do remove this. The EU speed limiter will not be as strict for now.
In the USA in 1981 even tried to implement this, whereby the speedometer only went up to 85 with 55 mph highlighted. This silly rule only lasted 18 days after the National Highways and Transport Safety Agency (NHTSA) deemed it as basically useless. The EU regulations though are far smarter since they use GPS to set the limits.
All new cars manufactured from July 6 2022 will have the new Intelligent Speed Assist technology fitted from the factory.
So how do these limits work? Are they useless? Let’s Find Out.
They Don’t Make It Impossible To Speed.
A limitation doesn’t make something impossible. Speed limit signs don’t make speeding impossible. Of course, if you break a limit you will get punished for it. If you exceed the local speed limit in a set area, the car will chime, vibrate, or even in some cases push the pedal back itself to try to stop you from speeding.
What the European Transport Safety Council initially wanted was a system that would reduce engine power once the speed limit on a certain road had been met. However, car manufacturers fought back and stated that they didn’t want to do this. Instead, they proposed a system whereby the car will play an audio warning, etc when the car has exceeded a set speed limit.
The thing is though, have car manufacturers “frauded” the EU? You see, almost every car on the road makes a fuss when you go over a certain speed. You can set that alarm etc to come on at any certain speed. for most people, the speed warning light comes on after they pass 99 mph. The best thing is, you can turn this noise off via the car’s settings.
I am unsure whether or not you will be able to turn off this new system. It is unlikely since it is mandatory. I do fear though that the EU will toughen up in a few years and push forwards their proposal since speed-related deaths are going up every single year.
The big change from July though probably will be the punishment you get for speeding, now that these new systems will be introduced. You could get say twice as many points for speeding, even if it is 1 mph over the limit, It is ludicrous and it does seem more of a money-making scheme rather than something that will work.
However, if you carry on speeding and ignore all of the warnings etc, the car will slow down to the set speed limit automatically. The limiter though will allow you to override it to overtake for example. It’s all very clever and it works either by a camera in the car detecting speed limits or a GPS.
Will This Affect Older Cars?
Now, not everyone will be driving a new car this year, especially one made from July onwards. So, will their car have to be retrofitted with one of these pesky limiters? The good news is no for now. It would be too much of a hassle to retrofit this whole system into older cars since it is costly. however, some businesses may choose to fit this system to existing fleet cars and some insurers may encourage it by offering lower premiums if it is retrofitted.
Bikes will also not be affected either by the new system. In the future though, depending on how many cars that are manufactured before July 2022 are involved in serious accidents due to speed; the EU may introduce a rule where all cars regardless the age have to be fitted with this speed limiting system.
How Will The EU Get This System To Work?
The key to all of this is you. The EU expects you to educate yourself more on the dangers of speed. As we mentioned earlier, the driver can override the system and say speed through a 30 mph zone at 70. This is why you have to be aware of your surroundings and listen to the car when you are breaking the limit.
Companies that have fleet cars for their employees will be advised to invest more into driver training courses. There will also be many new apps launched that put safety as a number one priority. Driving instructors too will probably emphasize more on speeding with their students and theory tests will include a section on the new speed-limiting software.
Cars will also be fitted with accident recorders (like planes) too. This system could work in conjunction with the new GPS speed-limiting system and actually give you feedback on how you drive. Many insurance companies nowadays actually have something like this. It’s an on-board system that monitors our driving. If it is good, then the insurance companies will reduce your premium.
Which Car Manufacturers Support This The Most?
The car manufacturers which support this the most are Lamborghini, Mclaren, Ferrari, and Porsche. Only joking, but you will be surprised by just how many car manufacturers agree to this.
You have Volvo first of all (no surprises here) whoa actually already use the new system in their cars. In fact, they were the first manufacturer to roll out this system and fit it into their whole lineup of cars. Volvo is in fact developing smart speed controls that will detect when the car is close to vulnerable areas such as schools or hospitals.
Mercedes, Peugeot, Ford, Citroen, and Renault have also invested in this system fitting it to their new cars, though just not to the extent that Volvo has done. It is key though that we do not over-rely on such technology though, since the set speed limit may be inappropriate for some road surfaces, for example, snowy roads.