European Parliament Mandates Speed Limiters on All New Cars
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 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]
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
More by Ronnie Schreiber
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Jalop1991 At the same time, let's take these drivers off the road--at least the ones that haven't yet taken themselves off the road.I can guarantee, at no point was this guy or any of the dead Tesla-stans actually driving the car. They were staring at their phones, because, HEY, SELF DRIVING!!
- 3-On-The-Tree To Maintenance Costs His best friend did the union meetings and he said that there wasn’t a lot of negotiating taking place between the union and state because they were happy with how the state was treating them. He said it seemed more like a formality having the union.
- 3-On-The-Tree He retired from the Navy after 25 years then worked for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a Wild land Firefighter for 20 years.
- El scotto Naw, it's the "Annual Tax Sale!" or "We stack em deep and sell them cheap!"
- MaintenanceCosts A Lexus LM 500h "Executive" for when I don't feel like doing the driving. When I do, I'm not sure there's anything left in the JDM with a manual that isn't also available here (86, CTR).
Comments
Join the conversation
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.