Mandatory speed limiters to all new vehicles within 3 years

[Deegee]

The reception it gets from joe public will depend on how it’s implemented, if limiters are used on high density “smart” motorways I can see a benefit, it may well stop the braking waves that are the reason for the vast majority of motorway crashes.

But if it’s used to stop someone from knocking their speed up to 80 on an empty motorway just because “it’s the law” I could see people getting cheesed off and hacking the system to get a bit extra.

It already happens with Truck Tachographs that are supposedly sealed systems, so there’s no reason it couldn’t happen on a car.

[duke63]

Except these cars will be tracked. GPS will be used as well as road sign reading.

[Stonesie]

That's it, im keeping my 'old' Honda diesel... Until it dies, shouldn't happen any time soon.

[T.C.]

Accidents cost a fortune. A fatal accident on the road costs the tax payer at least £1m.

Last figure was £1.65 million per fatality.

The £1 million figure dates back about 25 years.

One of the big issues that will have to be considered is the same as when the Government was considering the introduction of mandatory re-tests. namely it will be deemed a vote loser.

The public generally have a serious mistrust of politicians, this could really do all of the political parties some serious damage given that there are more voters that drive than don't drive.

So it may have a bearing.

[duke63]

Isn’t that why fitting is mandatory but using is not? It’s easy to then change usage as mandatory once you can argue that if the driver did not have the button turned to off then there would have been no fatality.

The rumours are that from 31 December this year, then ABS will no longer be able to have an off switch.

[Frankie]

I know speed makes things worse, but they are targeting the wrong area in my opinion, I have covered and still do a lot of the UK and where I agree the faster the collision the worst it is likely to be. But i really feel its the quality of the people behind the wheel, it used to be once a week someone would drift on the dual carriage way or motorway, now its everyday! let alone A & B roads where drivers seem to find it very difficult to stay on their own side! I used to have my angry frank moment, now I just know its coming and prepare to avoid....
I think too many people are in cars way to big for them to actually drive in a responsible manner, and far to powerful to handle.... even if the speeds get limited it still wont stop people crashing into each other, it wont stop the time it takes to clear accidents off the road, it may, may saves lives, but it wont cost less, as the incompetent drivers will still be fecking useless.

[Blade]

We keep taking about cars.

Daft question is the proposal for all privately owned passenger vehicles?

[Deegee]

At a rough guess I’d say that if compulsory ABS, Lane assist, speed limiting and autonomous braking are on the cards, the powers that be have decided that raising driving standards is either a vote loser, too expensive or impossible to achieve to a level where it would make a significant difference to the accident rate.
Let’s be honest, this way we pay most of the expense concerned.

[Blade]

Yes agree Deegee. How much will this add to the purchase price of a vehicle and it's the customer who has to maintained, repair and replace this expensive system too.

[duke63]

At a rough guess I’d say that if compulsory ABS, Lane assist, speed limiting and autonomous braking are on the cards, the powers that be have decided that raising driving standards is either a vote loser, too expensive or impossible to achieve to a level where it would make a significant difference to the accident rate.
Let’s be honest, this way we pay most of the expense concerned.

All these things will be cheaper and easier to manufacture when vehicles are all electric.

Most new cars already have full abs, lane assist and autonomous braking. As kwacky says they already have a lot more that we are not aware of. I suspect the only reason we don't see self drive cars at the moment is because there would be too many on the roads that are not and that causes legal issues in an accident.

The switchable ABS is only on bikes as far as i am aware but they will no longer have an off switch next year.

[Stonesie]

I know speed makes things worse, but they are targeting the wrong area in my opinion, I have covered and still do a lot of the UK and where I agree the faster the collision the worst it is likely to be. But i really feel its the quality of the people behind the wheel, it used to be once a week someone would drift on the dual carriage way or motorway, now its everyday! let alone A & B roads where drivers seem to find it very difficult to stay on their own side! I used to have my angry frank moment, now I just know its coming and prepare to avoid....
I think too many people are in cars way to big for them to actually drive in a responsible manner, and far to powerful to handle.... even if the speeds get limited it still wont stop people crashing into each other, it wont stop the time it takes to clear accidents off the road, it may, may saves lives, but it wont cost less, as the incompetent drivers will still be fecking useless.

I have to agree with this, so many people now either just don't seem to care or won't take any responsibility for their own actions.
I had one today who pulled out on me on a roundabout and just raised 2 fingers and carried on with no hands on the wheel, the other was clutching his phone.

[Kwacky]

Which is why we're being pushed to self driving vehicles. It's the twat behind the wheel that's the real issue.

By the way, it's proposed that lane controls and automatic breaking will come in at the same time as speed restrictions.

[D41]

You can't change the people....all you can do is adapt the vehicle to suit. I don't think cost is too much of an issue...it's unlikely to put anyone off buying a bike - from a price perspective bikes make very little sense.

[Cav]

I for one am NOT happy with automatic braking!

The system in the Mk7 golf is ridiculously over sensitive and had me and my advanced examiner sh!tting ourselves as it emergency braked in a 30mph zone and a line of traffic behind me before releasing the brakes and rapidly accelerating back up to 30mph. I had no control over anything besides the steering.

What happened was, I was following a car that was turning off to the left. I had adaptive cruise control (ACC) set to 30mph. I cancelled ACC when I saw the indicator of the car so I would slow down and hopefully avoiding braking. The car turning went slower than expected and I still had to brake. The second my foot touched the brake pedal the car took over and emergency stopped until the car was out of lane. The car then re-engaged cruise control and accelerated rapidly to 30mph again. We were absolutely miles away from the turning car and what was a minor incident really genuinely scared both myself and the examiner.

[D41]

"The car turning went slower than expected"

Who's fault was that??

[Cav]

Okay.. so I think you're missing the point here but I'll elaborate anyway.

"I saw the car indicate so I started slowing down" [meaning the distance between us was increasing]

"The car slowed more than was necessary [the examiner commented on their driving] and I still had to apply a little dab of brake to slow down a little more" [I had enough space to not need to brake but I would have gotten too close to the car if I didn't].

It was at the point of applying the brake that the car took over and ended up completing an emergency stop.

Is that more clear?

[D41]

Crystal.

[duke63]

But it still avoids a collision, Cav and that is all the legislation is interested in.

Now imagine ALL the cars on the road think that way.

In theory at least there should be zero collisions.

Automatic cars will also keep what they consider a safe distance from the car in front and not what we humans consider it to be. And they will know what the other car is about to do long before the human eye could see it.

[Jack]

It might have avoided a possible collision with the car in front but could have caused many more by braking so hard , particularly if the following vehicles do not have these advanced systems .

[duke63]

Which is why they want all cars to have the technology.