EU plans to fit all cars with speed limiters

"dieselwagon" (dieselwagon) 09/01/2013 at 18:22 • Filed to: None

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I cannot endorse going over the speed limit but....

"Under the proposals new cars would be fitted with cameras that could read road speed limit signs and automatically apply the brakes when this is exceeded."

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

. . > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:26

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Sounds fake to me. Ain't happenin'. At least not for some time.

kouryuuk > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:27

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If it uses a camera to read the speed limit couldn't you just block out the camera, or stick a piece of paper to it that says 100

dieselwagon > . . 09/01/2013 at 18:27

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I can't see it happening for a while either.

I couldn't see large scale filtering of the internet in the UK either... it is happening though.

Blondude > kouryuuk 09/01/2013 at 18:29

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Or just buy a classic car!

Sparf > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:30

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Another step towards cars being nothing more than automated transportation vessels... Sigh .

Good thing I like old cars.

desertdog5051 > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:30

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I thought the US was going to "nanny state" mode. Jeez, you guys are way past that. I live in a part of the US with miles and miles of deserted road. Made for speed, if you choose. Friggin' sad.

dieselwagon > Blondude 09/01/2013 at 18:34

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Until they legislate classics out of existence except for the wealthy, similar to whats happened in Japan. :(

Blondude > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:37

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:(

pdthedeuce > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:38

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it's not happening...from the comments...

http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/repo…

JCAlan > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:40

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The whole reading signs thing seems pretty far fetched (GPS, maybe), but further limiting speed would be easy enough. I was actually thinking about this today while looking up the top speeds of the wife and my cars. It's kind of amazing that they sell cars that will go speeds far in excess of what anyone would consider necessary or safe. I'm glad they do....but I could see someone making a case to change that. 90 MPH governors on every street legal car? You know that would save lives.

dieselwagon > desertdog5051 09/01/2013 at 18:41

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You mean you dont spend hours every day in this?!

I seriously struggle to enjoy driving generally with stuff like that, when it's not that, averaging speed cameras on freeways or arbitrary speed limits with cameras on what could be nice roads.

$8.50/US Gal doesn't help either, even with a 4 banger diesel.

. . > kouryuuk 09/01/2013 at 18:42

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And what about countries who don't really use signs to cancel speed limits? In Poland the speed limit only applies until the nearest intersection, so "national speed limit" signs are very rare.

GhostZ > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 18:43

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Lol.

The cost of outfitting every car with a camera and computer controller system and enforcing it is probably more than the economic benefit of less wrecks.

Let me put it in perspective. The amount of money and energy saved by the reduction in wrecks (which is the amount of time saved per year, per person, per benefit they serve to the economy as a whole) has to be greater than the loss from slowing everyone down, the cost of all of these cameras, the cost of enforcement, the loss of new car sales, and the r/d to develop the system.

If that doesn't happen, all the policy does is to make everyone a little worse off to some ulterior end.

Proposal or not, the only reason anyone who put this through is because of political bullshit, not because anyone actually benefits from it.

dieselwagon > JCAlan 09/01/2013 at 18:44

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It does seem far fetched but they already limit HGV's to 55 here, many light commercials are optionally limited to 65/70. I don't think it would be that hard for the EU to mandate it to all new cars, probably with special exemptions for cars rich people buy. Lambos, Ferraris, Astons, Bentleys etc.

GhostZ > JCAlan 09/01/2013 at 18:46

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It comes down to safety equipment.

Ironically enough, the added weight of safety equipment and the increased aerodynamic ability of newer cars means they require proportionally larger engines to be fitted in them to maintain current traffic pace and not be a danger.

So that means that in our pursuit of fuel economy and safety, we've created new cars with very good top speed potential compared to cars 20-30 years ago.

dieselwagon > pdthedeuce 09/01/2013 at 18:46

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I have my fingers crossed that it wont. Government has a history of doing what they promised they wouldn't though. If it was the DailyMail article I wouldn't have posted it. The Telegraph however, is supposed to be a reputable paper.

GasolineLollipop > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 19:02

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What is the percentage of drivers that are enthusiasts? It is a bit strange to have vehicles that can exceed most speed limits.

dieselwagon > GasolineLollipop 09/01/2013 at 19:18

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It's hard to tell.

I think it's an ever diminishing number in the UK, in my experience the majority of people see cars as a tool and a status symbol. No ones enthusiastic about the engineering, the way they drive or design particularly.

There are the oldskool classic enthusiasts, men in tweed jackets, fiddling with MG B's and old Triumphs. There are also the boy racers in modified euro hatchbacks, and even these louts are a shrinking minority due to the insane costs of motoring.

The 20/30something enthusiast as I tend to assume most oppos are, is probably the smallest subset of the culture.

PS9 > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 19:33

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I'd be more willing to get my Jimmies rustled at this if it was more than just a proposal. I mean, "Local lawmaker introduces bill to restrict the use of aluminum and steel in firearm production!" Sounds considerably less sexy when you consider how impossible it is for such a bill to get the broad swath of support it would need to survive scrutiny by the relevant committees, nevermind going up for a vote, nevermind surviving the same process in the senate, nevermind surviving the presidents veto pen. And the EU is supposed to be some kind of super-congress involving the PMs of every European nation, right? If their federal legal process is even a bit as slow and inefficient as ours, this has maybe a .5% chance of actually becoming law in all of Europe.

PS9 > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 19:35

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Eight motherfucking fifty for gas? Holy flaming Ferraris, batman! How are you all surviving that over there?

dieselwagon > PS9 09/01/2013 at 19:47

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Ah of course, US Congress is well known for listening to their electorate.

As stated, it's unlikely to happen soon and almost certainly not in the form presented in this proposal, but it's plausible for it to happen in the relatively near future. As I noted earlier, large commercial vehicles sold in the UK are already limited to 55. The car culture in the EU is very different, and attitudes to the EU are very different.

The UK at least seems to enjoy making it as painful as possible to own and use a car in this country with high insurance rates, extortionate fuel prices, other motoring taxes and an ever growing list of laws relating to motoring, we're forever being encouraged to get on the bus/train/bicycle. The Netherlands is very similar in this regard.

I think it will take time if it does come through, but as I also noted earlier I can't envision this regulation where specialty makes wouldn't be exempt. So your Aston Martins, Bentleys, Lambos and Ferraris would continue as normal.

dieselwagon > PS9 09/01/2013 at 19:53

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By never, ever driving for pleasure, only for A-B journeys. Hypermiling with small displacement engines and manual gearboxes. I get about 45MPG(US) with a mix of urban/suburban driving, my onboard computer likes to remind me my average speed is 24mph.

desertdog5051 > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 20:05

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I work from home and do not have to go anywhere except 1 sometimes 2 days a week for business. My drives are through isolated territory and you probably see 25 cars on a 3-4 hour journey. Love it, but do not go more than 5mph over the speed limit cause I drive a Pickup and it gets crappy fuel mileage. Currently paying $3.20 a gallon.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 20:13

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Just cannot keep their grubby paws off, and leave well enough alone, can they?

If it is being proposed in the EU, it is just a matter of minutes until the US DOT hops on board.

And hook through OwnStar, and report you to the police while applying the brakes.

The only obstacle to this is the reduced revenue generation from fewer speeding tickets... so they'll ticket first, and still rein-in.

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > dieselwagon 09/01/2013 at 20:26

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Ok, so what happens to all the money being made off of speeding tickets?

dieselwagon > Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS 09/01/2013 at 20:30

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They've only been making a profit of speeding tickets in the last year or two, in the UK at least.

I'm wondering what they'll do when they price us off the roads with the fuel costs... Actually I do know:
Put public transport prices/taxes up
License and tax bicycles
Heavier parking fines
Toll roads
More congestion charge zones

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > JCAlan 09/01/2013 at 20:45

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Euro spec Ford Focus, Opel Insignia's, BMW 5 and 7 series', Audi A8's, Mercedes S and E-classes and a plethora of Volvo's already come with traffic sign recognition that use cameras to recognize the EU standardized traffic sign.

I do believe that they also use GPS in some factor, but rely mostly on the camera's as they can also detect temporary speed limits signs.