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Since speed limits were introduced, people who don’t really “get” driving have wondered why a car’s power isn’t restricted so it can’t exceed those selfsame speed limits. For most drivers, that’s a nightmare scenario, but it appears to becoming reality for European drivers.
UK based Evo.co.uk is reporting that, after approval by key members of the European Parliament of regulations proposed by the European Transport Safety Council, speed limiters and data loggers will now be mandatory equipment on all new cars. The European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection voted in favor of mandatory vehicle safety standards that could be in force within three years. Negotiations between the Parliament, Member States and the European Commission will determine how the new regulations are implemented.
The speed limiters, which go by the euphemism Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), use GPS data and possibly traffic sign recognition to determine a road’s speed limit and then limit engine power to match that speed. While it’s possible to just press harder on the accelerator and go faster, if the car exceeds the speed limit for several seconds, an audible warning signal will sound, along with a visual warning displayed until speed is reduced to the legal limit.
The new regulations also mandate data loggers, plus driver assist features like lane warnings and autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection. It’s not clear if the data loggers would have any privacy protections.
ETSC would like even more stringent regulations, like making the ISA more difficult to override or defeat. As is usual when nannies like to control people, they say it’s for their own good. A banner image at the ETSC website says, “The EU saved my life,” and after the committee vote, the ETSC congratulated itself with the #LastNightTheEUSavedMyLife hashtag.
ETSC says the devices will reduce the number of collisions by 30 percent and save 25,000 lives. That figure is actually over the next 15 years, but telling millions of European motorists that their freedom will be restricted to theoretically save about 1,700 people a year probably wouldn’t sound as convincing.
[Image: European Transport Safety Council]
When this news first surfaced several days ago it was a proposal. At what point has it actually been enacted, or is this just scaremongering?
Yeah, this sounds an awful lot like a committee agreeing to principles leading to a steering group for the investigation of a proposal to approach the terms of a standard to be applied on the recommendation of members after… etc etc.
Kinda like all the stuff a few years back talking about how gas powered cars were going to be illegal in N years, and so on.
Stomp it out now, before it breeds.
I thought it may have been scaremongering until I found the source material at an EU site.
Part of the problem in reporting on it is that I’m an American not familiar with the workings of the EU, and the EU and its Parliament and Commissions act in particularly opaque manners.
Straight from the AOC playbook, or vice-versa!
Driving is a privilege, not a right you knob.
I can’t recall referencing rights or privileges in the article. If your comment was directed at the author of this post, you should know that attacking our writers has always been a violation of site policy. In Farago’s days that would have gotten a last warning.
Driving on public roads is a privilege provided by people whom I vote into office. Kinda circular that way. None of it means I should be kissing anyone’s arse for the privilege of driving.
Nonsense.
God, or evolution, giving you legs able to let you walk with, and a brain and limbs able to drive a car with, is all the guaranteed right to move about as you see fit, anyone will ever need.
States may well have the PRIVILEGE, if granted by the people, to REGULATE how this moving about is to take place. But REGULATE, contrary to contemporary delusion, is distinctly different from PROSCRIBE.
If the state tell you that if you are to drive, you are barred from driving on the left side of the road, they are regulating behavior. As is their privilege. Since you can still drive on the right side. And, as opposed to lots of Southern style “separate but equal”, the right side really is equal to the left side.
But if the state told you that you cannot drive on the left side, but neither could you drive on the right side, nor anywhere in between, they are attempting to PROSCRIBE you from engaging in an activity that it is your natural right to engage in. Hence, whatever they say is null and void, and you are well within your right to drive wherever the heck you darned well please.
YOU are the one granting the state any privilege they may have. Not the other way around. You already have been given the privilege to anything you are capable of doing. By either your maker, and/or evolution. Both of which trump a bunch of self promoting twits any day and in every way.
Holy crap… I’m a right-lane slow poke but this spooks even me.
“an audible warning signal will sound, along with a visual warning displayed until speed is reduced to the legal limit”
Oh… it just taunts you every time-a.
Just put ear plugs with nice music and be done with it
I already have this system in my car. It’s called my wife.
Me to and she has nice ‘air bags’ as well .
-Nate
+1
jatz, thank you for being in the right lane.
Cool down, he is from England.
speed limiters = fightin’ words
Enemy of the State.
I’m playing my Lee Greenwood cassette so much it is starting to wear out.
I’ll loan you my CD.
The EU becomes more draconian and intrusive by the day. They’re only hastening its eventual dissolution.
Meh… lame duck population whose mandates will be shredded by the Caliphate. Sharif likes a fast car.
then they will say, why do people protest. Yellow vest, orange vest… That EU is going down.
Europeans hardly reproduce, actually shrinking in population. So every life is worth saving. 1,500 is not a small number if you think about it. May be for ISIS but not for Europeans who are becoming endangered species.
That’s a story you often read here. What you hear less often is that the Americans, along with most other developed countries, are in exactly the same boat. The US birth rate is well below replacement level and is only slightly above the EU average to take an example. The Americans aren’t breeding their increasing population, they’re importing it.
Muy cierto. Seremos una minoría étnica en 2050 si no antes.
_SEGURO_ que antes ! .
Pobrecito gabachos…….
-Nate
In America there is always immigration and immigrants become Americans first or second generation. And birthrate in America is higher too.
Immigrants are what makes American great ! .
Once they _assimilate_ that is……
-Nate
“While it’s possible to just press harder on the accelerator and go faster, if the car exceeds the speed limit for several seconds, an audible warning signal will sound, along with a visual warning displayed until speed is reduced to the legal limit.”
Did I miss the definition of speed limiter? Or, does it now mean speed nanny?
I wonder how that will work on the “unrestricted” sections of the Autobahn. Will the cars stick to the “advisory” 130kph limit?
The unlimited autobahn is really 80mph? Heck, I-90 across South Dakota is 80mph. My big dumb American sedan cruises that nicely at 145kph.
Article says that AI determines speed limit on that particular road. Even my Fusion knows what is speed limit every given moment and displays on dash board. It is just matter of SW update to implement this feature to annoy driver. So on autobahn it will not annoy driver.
This is what happens when 1984 gets on the banned book list. Even China isn’t trying to be this Orwellian yet, and their cities have cameras placed everywhere to photograph drivers.
? Where is Orwell’s 1984 banned ? .
It was recommended reading when I was in grade school eons ago .
-Nate
Not aware of it being banned anywhere… (and I’m in education.)
Twain is more likely to get banned for his use of the “n-word.”
Just so ~ the whackos always jump to fear mongering first regardless of the truth .
I picked up a textbook for the first time in decades last night, a Social Studies one for California, the first thirty pages were all ADVERTISEMENTS and the following pages looked like a computer study guide, nothing like I’d ever seen before .
I doubt any of the three or four previous students it had been issued to, ever cracked it.
I read a bit and was appalled .
It even said America tried communism and failed at it ! .
I have much pity on you as an Educator if this is the crap tools they give you to work with .
-Nate
Don’t think they have text books anymore here, everything my kid does is on a Chromebook.
Hi have no idea what a chromebook is I’m betting some sort of tablet device .
That America’s ability to read, much less comprehend, is declining rapidly, makes me sad, very sad .
-Nate
Twain’s use of the n-word was meant to be instructive. Banning his work indicates a lack of critical thinking and a lack of knowledge of history and context. This is, of course, double-plus ungood.
@chuckrs – of course, Twain lived long enough to see his books banned while he was still breathing.
My two favorite quotes of his were: “Imagine you were a complete idiot, now imagine you were a member of Congress. Wait, I’m repeating myself.”
“First God made idiots, that was for practice. Then he made School Boards.”
I was exaggerating. I was thinking more along the lines of, “those who forget 1984, are doomed to live it.”
In other news, 1984 was banned in China last year. Not necessarily the novel (the news is unclear), but literally the ability to refer to the novel when posting online.
“It was recommended reading when I was in grade school eons ago”
It was then. Today it is the “New Green Deal”.
Orwell wrote how-to books.
Great, now I’m imagining 1984 with an O’Reilly style cover…
Hoo boy
Thanx for the considered replies guys .
-Nate
What’s the point in driving yourself then?
Exactly.
“What’s the point in driving yourself then?”
Illusion of freedom. Remember Matrix?
Oh, boy ~ here we go .
I’m a speeder too, one more reason to keep my old jalopy, it goes over 100 when I want it to, safely and with no fuss .
I like to drive @ 80 ~ 85, rarely much faster .
-Nate
That will depend on European voters. In a culture where they are taught from childhood always to obey government officials, they may not resist. Americans are different but, even here, more and more people are willing to trade personal freedom for government handouts.
Truth. Lots of people are eager to trade freedom for promises of security. The state is always happy to oblige, and the amount of control is never enough. Your communication, your education, your health, your transportation, your food, your self-defense. They want it all. Plenty of people are happy to hand it over.
While it is all the rage to, uh, rage against Uncle Sam, the sellout of privacy is directly in the crosshairs of Corporate America not the gov’t. That electronic tracking device in everybody’s pocket has done more to invade privacy than the US gov’t.
As for limiters, I am a “speeder”. As such I am completely opposed to such devices. Just wait until data trackers are required by insurance companies as opposed to being optional. BTW, before the left lane 55ers get their tissues wet with tears for all the children, the only at-fault accident I was involved in was removing a driver side mirror from a parked car. This to avoid a head-on. All in 750,000 miles of driving.
This sort of move in the USA would finally force me to restore my 67 Mustang with proper brakes suspension rebuild etc just so I could drive it at high rates of speed.
FBI already collecting everyone’s DNA. We’re effectively in a police state situation
I’m intrigued by your claim that European voters are “taught from childhood always to obey government officials”, the implication that people elsewhere are encouraged to civil disobedience. I live in a European country where I don’t ever recall being encouraged to blind obedience of those in authority. Could you give some examples?
It’s just easier for us to be jingoistic dumbschits about Europe than to learn much about it through visiting and extended conversation with you all, maybe even in your first language.
Perhaps if you’d throw over your aversion to deodorant?
I mean, damn, your professional are always stinking up such nice clothing!
Crap like this is why, if I were a Briton, I would have voted for Brexit in no uncertain terms!
Eh, Britain is already a police state. It had at one point recently the highest per capita rate of surveillance cameras in the world.
Had a discussion at work about how the British are more upset about employers reading their e-mails (on the employers network) than the government.
In the U.S. we’re more upset about the government reading our e-mails than our employers.
Anybody who expects any degree of privacy online without taking the proper precautions is naive and needs to catch up to reality. Get yourselves VPNs, folks… and that’s just the starting point.
For lack of a better term this is what I call lowest common denominator thinking, i.e. a one-eyed octogenarian with Alzheimers will set the ceiling for everyone.
No indication of course as to what speed the ‘limiter’ will activate. In North America setting the limit at 210 km/h or 130 mph wouldn’t cause hardship to too many people.
The other consideration is that tires are speed rated. The speed rating tells you the maximum velocity a tire can sustain before it’s in danger of blowing out. Most family sedans and vans have S or T rated tires, meaning it’s best to keep them under 112 miles per hour (180.2 kilometers per hour) and 118 miles per hour (189.9 kilometers per hour), respectively.
Doesn’t the Ford Mustang GT have a manufacture limited top speed?
Limiting top speed for vehicle/tire concerns are not unreasonable. Limiting them to satisfy a politically/financially speed limit is.
If this proposal ever comes to pass the system (which isn’t intended to be a limiter as such at least initially)will be linked to a GPS system to refer to the actual limit in force.
Which is prone to be rife with errors. And special circumstances!
For instance the school zone, posted 20mph during restricted hours, normally 25mph. Both of which feel like you’re crawling, given the condition of the street, sight lines, etc.! (I set my adaptive cruise at 33mph, and during non-school hours at least, have gone by a local cop running laser, and haven’t been touched!)
So what is “restricted hours?” What database is going to have that? What about summer vacation?
There’s a subset of the populace where I live that would probably commit suicide if the sign said “Jump Off This Bridge” instead of an underposted speed limit! And I’ve actually had to sit behind an idiot following that school limit to the tee at *** 3:00 on a Saturday morning!! *** (Heck, the availability of full-stop capability in an adaptive cruise system will be a must on any vehicle I obtain from now on, in order for THE CAR, and not my lead foot, to be able to control the speed; my current Accord’s ACC drops out at 22mph!)
If speed limits were set at the 85th-percentile speed as a rule, perhaps this would be a less bitter pill (even though I’m still against this draconian stuff because of the overreach)! But they certainly aren’t where I am — just some ridiculously low number guaranteed to make all but those who most love Big Brother assisting them with their toilet activities into criminals!
I propose we return to the 55mph national speed limit here in the US as a first step toward implementing the green new deal.
! OOPS ! .
You forgot to use the sarcasm font there……
-Nate
Yeah but first we have to get rid of ICE vehicles and cows too. And don’t eat meat, don’t fart – $300 penalty per each offence in California.
What are you talking about, ILO? Californians love the smell of their own farts.
*ducks*
The logical interim step towards the goal of controlling the movement of the citizenry – at least until autonomous cars come along.
I’ve long thought we’ll have the same thing here in the US sooner than later, but in true American fashion it’ll be at the directive of Big Business (namely insurance companies) rather than Big Government. Insurers already offer a discount if you voluntarily install their data tracker in your car; I predict one day it will be mandatory if you want them to insure it for you. Speed limiters would be the next logical step after that…
Flo from Progressive will show you where to stick it.
I mean the speed limiter…..on the OBD port.
changes aren’t permanent – but change is
people get ready, there’s ‘big change’ a-comin’
Ok, so I better follow the example of Will Ferrell in ‘Get Hard’ and start training, because this means that unless I move to the USA then I will one way or another end up in prison.
Now Brexit finally makes sense.
@Mittencuh
My exact feeling, too.
Also mandated is autoomous emergency braking. Functionaly that means the manual transmission is dead.
With speed limiters where will speeding revenue come from.
Ironical inn the USA out highway patrol and attendat pensions are on the speeders side in still allowing the ability to speed,(and collect)
Saving lives, I’ll bet if we ban cars and any vehicle that can go above 20 mph we’ll save even more lives.
I’d like to ban mountain climbing, scuba divng, swiming in the sea where theres sharks. Maybe ban lightening too, although the EU probably does not have that authority.
how about letting people LIVE.
Ban humans.
Don’t tempt some of them! Gotta do what’s best for the PLANET, don’t-cha know!
“Ban humans.”
It is already work in progress. In US it is called “planned parenthood”.
?
My ’17 Mazda has autonomous emergency braking, and a clutch pedal.
So does my GTI. I suppose there could be a risk of a stall if the braking fully stops the car, but it hasn’t happened yet.
There’s no reason why you can’t have emergency braking on a manual car and there are several available thus equipped. If the AEB brings you to a halt the engine will stall unless you press the clutch but that’s hardly the end of the world. You can just start it again….
Stupidly, though, some of those same cars make you set the electric parking brake to restart the car!
Or, “How to Win the Hearts of Everyone Behind You At A Traffic Light if Your Clutch Work..NEEDS SOME WORK!” By “Your Government Overlords, a.k.a., Resistance Is Futile, You Will Be Assimilated!”
Why, exactly, is it impossible to engineer a solenoid to disengage the clutch for automatic braking or remote starting?
The only thing anyone wanted to know about the new (July 2018) car: “OMG DOES IT START ITSELF?!?”
“No. it’s a stick shift.”
BUT WHYYYYYYY
To remote start a stick shift car would require either the clutch disengaged as you suggest or having the transmission in neutral. Either way the vehicle is no longer held immobile by the stopped engine and the transmission in first or reverse gear. It is dependent on the parking brake for this. An automatic vehicle though has the parking pawl which is far more reliable than the typical poorly maintained or unused parking brake.
The stickshifts that would theoretically be getting remote start and automated braking systems would already have automatic parking brakes. My stickshift car’s automatic parking brake stops/stalls the thing out if I open the door while in reverse.
Things have gotten weird for stickshifts. They’re not exactly manual.
They might as well just make them DCTs with videogame clutch pedals and shifters that control the clutch solenoids. For real, why isn’t this how it’s done?
Is my 2018 MY car’s clutch even directly connected to the pedal? Sure doesn’t feel like it.
Let’s try contextualizing this for a moment outside the Big Brother/Government Nanny prisms.
If the goal is to have autonomous or at least semi-autonomous roads, a limiter like this would help reduce some amount of uncertainty from a technology perspective. A car being driven by some .NET application in 2030 is going to optimize based on speed limit, fuel economy, and congestion. If it knows that, say, half of the vehicles it can’t ping through the car-to-car network are not likely to exceed the speed limit it can plan accordingly. This is a step in that direction.
Note that I’m not saying this is a Good Idea and as always, the vehicle use case in much of the US is vastly different from much of the EU. I don’t see the need on the Interstates. But I can see an application on, say, streets that border playgrounds and schools. Yes, I’m playing the “think of the children!” card, but only in narrow circumstances.
That being said, I certainly understand the slippery slope aspect here and the likelihood that any actual implementation would not involve common sense.
“outside the Big Brother/Government Nanny prisms”
That’s like the Architect Sketch outside the rotating blades prism.
Otherwise, your comment is the soul of earnest, informed objectivity.
I sometimes like to think that the contractors who developed Skynet probably thought they were delivering a product that would help people out.
I would have playing on my infotainment system Sammy Hagar’s “I can’t drive 55”, at thermonuclear decibel levels.
I just wish I could figure out how to use those damn three seashells.
Perfect.
Serious question: will the technically-minded types be able to override this with custom tunes imported through OBD-II ports? Just re-install the stock tune before an inspection or bringing it back to the dealer for repairs.
I’m one of those guys who gets annoyed by cars that beep when I don’t have my seat belt on. That was one thing I liked about both my previous Jeeps… My ’06 TJ just illuminated a light on the dash and my ’94 YJ didn’t even register that I wasn’t wearing my seat belt. I don’t want it on, I’m off-roading at 3 mph and am in no danger of rolling over! This speed limiter would drive me absolutely nuts.
I get annoyed when technology in general insults my intelligence. Windows is a huge offender here. Examples:
1. In Windows 10, when you get a BSOD, there’s a stupid large frown emoji that pops up. Is that supposed to appeal to me as a millennial? It doesn’t; screw you Microsoft. Or do you think I’m too stupid to realize that a BSOD means something bad happened?
2. When you install a new program and Windows highlights it in the start menu. Thanks, Windows, for reminding me of something I just did as if I’m too stupid to remember that I installed Quake 4…
3. When I plug in a USB device and a little popup appears in the bottom right telling me about it. I know I plugged in a device, I just physically did it, I don’t need a text bubble telling me that.
4. When I try to highlight text half-way through a word and it automatically highlights the rest of the word. Hey Microsoft, the mouse is one of the most accurate input methods ever invented, and believe it or not I only wanted to delete half of that word!
/rant
Cue Rush’s classic Red Barchetta.