Speed Limiters For Cars

[Scorps01]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7803997.stm

Feel free to discuss.

[chrisis200]

I never understood why they allowed companies to sell cars in the UK that can go over 70mph in the first place, seeing as thats the legal limit here? Maybe they should just limit them all, I like to drive quick as I guess most people do & think this idea is totally mad & it wont ever happen. But it makes sense in a way :( people are more into acceleration now anyway rather than top speed surely, I certainly don't get on many race tracks so never see 100mph or above 70 anyway lol...

[Chris.S]

some how i cant see that happening as it would make speed cameras redundent and the government would lose revenue from fines

[Mike_B]

There have been calls for these before, and they've never happened. It takes control away from the driver, encourages zombie driving, and you get issues when cars aren't set to precisely the same speed (much like trucks with their 56mph limiters meaning they take forever to overtake each other, causing tailbacks).

And what is going to happen when you are on a motorway, and it suddenly a GPS positioning error of a few metres makes it decide you are in fact on the 20mph residential road that runs right alongside it?

[aido]

To be fair I've always wondered why they don't do this anyway - just needs either a lot of transmitters which would cost a fortune, or the easy way is implement something like a nav system in each new car with the limits for each road - TomTom already has something similar and knows the limits for a lot of roads - just hook into that and the GPS feed and limit the speedo accordingly.

Guess there may be issues if you ever need to accelerate out of the way quickly if something bads about to happen though!!

They're already causing excess o2 emissions due to speed humps and variable speed limits due to every slowing down and speding up constantly.

[durg]

There's also the issue that in some situations the safest thing to do is accelerate out of trouble instead of being squashed - my driving instructor used to go on about that one!

[dave1]

I never understood why they allowed companies to sell cars in the UK that can go over 70mph in the first place, seeing as thats the legal limit here?

I believe, unless the law has changed, that if you wish to overtake a vehicle doing say 67mph then you could exceed the limit briefly to facilitate a safe overtaking manoeuvre provided you reduced speed to the limit immediately following the manoeuvre.

Other possible reasons could be:

1/ Revenue from speeding fines.

2/ Might be awkward to change if limit was ever increased.

3/ A lot of UK motorists drive abroad where limits vary.

4/ Removes a possible option to avoid an accident.

[sparkystav]

I'm sure it'll be easily bypassed somehow ;)

[jsj24uk]

There have been calls for these before, and they've never happened. It takes control away from the driver, encourages zombie driving, and you get issues when cars aren't set to precisely the same speed (much like trucks with their 56mph limiters meaning they take forever to overtake each other, causing tailbacks).

And what is going to happen when you are on a motorway, and it suddenly a GPS positioning error of a few metres makes it decide you are in fact on the 20mph residential road that runs right alongside it?

I compleatly agree. There is a stretch of the A10 heading south near Broxbourne where my Tom Tom thinks it's 30 when it is 70. Nothing is reliable enough yet.

[legendswraith]

I'm sure it'll be easily bypassed somehow ;)

Well considering i have an import thats limited to 118kmph and i'm sure it goes faster than that i should think so ;)

[Scorps01]

some how i cant see that happening as it would make speed cameras redundent and the government would lose revenue from fines

Heard on the radio this morning that 40% of all gatsos are turned off anyway as the cost to maintain them is to high when those cameras are not generating enough fines.

As for the speed limiters i lived with them for years as i drive HGV's but like everyone else i think it will be dangerous for cars.

[boddamloon]

This will never happen and its only mentioned to keep the do-gooders happy.

Its like smoking, How easy would it be for the goverment to say no more cigarettes to be sold in shops???? It would drastically cut down the smokers.

I was part of a team fitting the windmills you see dotted around everywhere a few years ago and the project engineer told me that they will never save money and will constantly be a cost to the taxpayer but the green people feel at ease when they see them and keeps them happy.

So no need to worry this is just another gimic the goverment is sending out and they make too much money from speeders the same as cigarette smokers

[Scorps01]

Its like smoking, How easy would it be for the goverment to say no more cigarettes to be sold in shops???? It would drastically cut down the smokers.

Well they put a ban on advertising on TV and across the board on Sports so they can do it if they want and as for the revenue loss they will make it up on something else like raising the council tax...we as a nation are a push over we take it up the **** every time.

It will happen eventually.

[Noel]

Judges over here have more frequently ordered speed limiters to be fitted to "young offenders" cars when convicted of motoring offences, usually for 2 years and the cops can inspect it at their discretion day or night for tampering....

i think if it became a law that every new car was limited then it could start a new trend with manufactures in that the cars gearing wouldn't need to be so long and a 0-70 competition could kick off, which could end up with "regular" cars going quicker, then "sporty cars" would have to be faster again and the result could be alot more dangerous ....