UK to adopt vehicle speed limiters

Well it really was only a matter of time and I cannot say I’m remotely surprised think this has been on the cards for a little while.

Average speed cameras have pretty much done then same so far.

Wow, I guess it had to come at some point, but man, that’s no fun. Wonder what it means for vehicles made outside of the EU and motorcycles specifically. Will they have to build them in and even if we’re not in the EU at that time will vehicles we buy come via the EU and thus have to comply?

It’ll be harder to implement some of that tech on a bike as well with the reduced space and electrical power available.

Hopefully existing bikes will be excluded.

I think they’ll need to say anything built from X date will need it. Retrospectively fitting will not make people happy, I mean I’d be pissed if i’m told my Vauxhall (not that it needs a limiter it is as slow as shit) needs it doing and I have to pay for it.

I can’t imaine it being retrospectively applied. It would be a huge and expensive undertaking.

The bloke from the AA makes a stupid comment about Dodgems being fitted with speed limiters but still crashing.
The fact that there are far fewer than the 1793 road deaths a year on dodgems would imply that the speed limiters on them are beneficial :joy:

Bikes will be excluded (certainly to begin with):
https://www.bmf.co.uk/news/show/bmf-response-intelligent-speed-assistance

The biggest concern is whether it can be overridden quickly, easily and effectively enough when stuck in a bad situation and you need to just floor it out safely. You know, large lorry starts to swap lanes into you, need to finish an overtake as situation has changed etc.

From the article, the key take home is less the speed limiting, is rather the mandatory black box that will record your actions and how much/often you override the speed limiter. Black boxes are already essential for young/new drivers to get insurance. Give it 10 years, and I predict insurance will be prohibitively high for any vehicles without this tech.

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Just fit a dodgy dongle of ebay (china) to bypass the speed limiter!

They’ll offer a retrospective fit in exchange for lower insurance premiums…

Despite what the tossers at “Brake” (who do not have a clue, say, bearing in mind that I was interviewed on the radio when Brake said that we should introduce an offence of failing to stop and report an accident :roll_eyes: ) putting my professional driver and rider head on for a moment, I see potentially all sorts of problems pending. The points I make are just my own personal opinion for what its worth

Firstly as already pointed out, it is not speed that kills but innapropriate speed for the conditions and the sudden stopping from high speed that kills. So to blame all serious crashes on excess speed is not only a dangerous game to play, but an inaccurate scaremongering statement.

Following on from that, drivers (and riders) need the flexibility to be able to increase or decrease their speed according to conditions, for example entering a motorway, picking off a quick overtake or just a situation where a quick sport of power can prevent a crash occuring (and I have seen a few of these). The driver needs to be able to retain the flexibility to increase of reduce his speed accordingly.

If all vehicles are limited, this will cause frustration and probablya darn sight more congestion. Look what happens when a restricted HGV tries to pass another restricted HGV on a dual carriageway? Everything gets backed up and drivers get angry and frustrated.

The other point that comes immidiately to mind is that I anticipate that the accident rate will increase, because like current moped riders (the legal ones not the knife wealding little shits althouhg it culd also apply) is that everyone will have just 2 speeds, flat out and stop and so cars will be thrashed to within an inch of their life.

The 2nd hand market will price benefit those with non restricted vehicles as demand will be higher.

The Government will loose millions in revenue from speeding fines.

Car accessory and tuning firms will be put out of business and I bet the new car market wil take a bigger hit than it already has.

Watch the illegal businesses of overiding the limiters spring up to replace compete with the mileage clocking scams.

On top of which, it gets approved, whover is in power come the following general election can probab;y be guaranteed of being kicked out of power.

Its the old story of rules being decided by idiots who do not have the first idea about motoring matters, not dissimilar to when I sat on the BSi Committee about black visors and because the Pedestrian Association said “No” that was it and it was thrown out despite all the benefits and positive arguments put forward regarding enhancing safety for riders.

I give up with this shit hole of a country these days.

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I’ve got a lovely 20 year old Saab 900 for sale if anyone wants to get in early :grin:

Of course they will, and even within new vehicles, if this comes to pass, there will still be many caveats and over-rides. Notwithstanding all of that, look at how many illegal ECU upgrades and DPF removals are available at the moment.

But this really has to happen.

Play a little mind game. All of Camden has been 20 mph for many years. I have recorded, as a passenger sitting on it with my GPS, the number 168 bus doing 37 mph on Eversholt Street. Why should the number 168 bus be allowed to speed? Why should any bus be allowed? TfL have debated installing limiters for years but the can keeps being kicked down the road. It should be done today.

Extend that to other public service vehicles, extend it to council vehicles and delivery vehicles. Extend it to taxis - why shouldn’t taxis comply with speed limits?

Once all those vehicles are speed governed, it is a small step to question why private vehicles should be allowed to speed.

Appropriate speed for the conditions as TC mentions is key here. If the system cannot account for light levels, rain, fog, ice, random house having a bonfire smoking out road, debris and spills on road, sheep or deer crossing, school drop off\pick up times, and other suchlike; then you’ll still have idiots flooring it at exactly 20 or 30 and still causing accidents. Possibly even worse when folk stop thinking and just trust the car to hold right speed.

This is the main problem with half automated cars, they will lull people into not thinking or paying attention, when they really still do need to think and stay attentive. In some ways things will only get better with fully automated cars that require zero user interaction.

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Good luck fitting a limiter to my carb based engine. The only electrickery is for the spark and carb heaters.

Restrictor plate in the intake rubber.

But that just restricts horsepower, it doesn’t make a bike adhere to the relevant speed limits for the road it is on. Unless of course you restrict it down so as a bike only makes enough power to hit 20 MPH.

I’m with Tony on this one. Speed in itself does not kill.

People will always die and 0.0027150211992731676 is not a bad stat (pop 66.04M), and the best in Europe.

I wonder why they never express it in percentage terms?

Does speed kill or does distracted/dangerous/incompetent driving? - just this afternoon I was filtering when a van slammed a quick lane swap without indicating, almost taking me off.
I can’t temember the last time I was involved in a near miss with someone merely going 35mph … 80mph on a motorway.

If we talk about someone going 45-50+ in a 30 then we’re back in the realms of dangerous/reckless.

Speed does kill… of course, simple physics. (I don’t have facts to back my opinion up) but I would hazard a guess that in a large proportion of accidents where a fatality has occurred, it was a secondary factor. Recklessness etc. Being primary.

Would taking away even more responsibility from a driver result in more zombie like drivers? More than likely.