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Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:26 pm
by SteveClem
When the proposed legislation comes in my Traveller will be as fast as any new car on the road... :roll:

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:52 pm
by King Kenny
Probably faster. A good selling point.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:46 pm
by alanworland
I reckon I must already have one fitted?

Alan

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:46 pm
by TDV102
Only a non-driver would suggest fitting all cars with speed limiters. Nanny state gone mad. Picture the situation - you go to overtake and as you get alongside the limiter cuts in just as a truck appears coming the other way. There are times when the ability to exceed the limit is regretfully necessary. Similarly, in a medical emergency breaking the limit is still illegal but would you appreciate being slowed getting to A&E? Especially as they've just closed the local A&E and the nearest is 23 miles away

It is a proven fact that most accidents are caused by driver stupidity rather than excess speed. Most close calls I've had were in town at less than 20mph. Almost all were down to other drivers not using their eyes and mirrors, or pedestrians/cyclists using headphones or mobiles. I've the only close call I've had in 40 years of driving at 'naughty' speed was due to a pensioner pulling out of a minor side road on to a straight main road with excellent visibility without looking!

Rant over

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:35 pm
by geoberni
I love it when armchair experts comment on stories without reading up on it first. That's why the Daily Mail has so many readers, they're all incapable of making their own minds up. :roll:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47715415
The system can be overridden temporarily. If a car is overtaking a lorry on a motorway and enters a lower speed-limit area, the driver can push down hard on the accelerator to complete the manoeuvre.

A full on/off switch for the system is also envisaged, but this would lapse every time the vehicle is restarted.
Further down the page....
However, the new system as it's currently envisaged will not force drivers to slow down. It is there to encourage them to do so, and to make them aware of what the limit is, but it can be overridden. Much like the cruise control in many current cars will hold a particular speed, or prevent you exceeding it, until you stamp on the accelerator.
Or this bit ... Which is most likely when so few councils actually clean road signs.
However, there is concern over whether current technology is sufficiently advanced for the system to work effectively.

In particular, many cars already have a forward-facing camera, but there is a question mark over whether the sign-recognition technology is up to scratch.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:37 pm
by Monty-4
Agreed with the above. Let's read the detail before we go full-on with the rants?

The limiters can be overriden temporarily for the scenarios described by pressing the accelerator down, much like with the user-activated speed limiters fit to cars now. We may be relatively slow and cautious drivers but it's worth knowing that the severity and lethality of accidents increases exponetially with speed. This little nudge to prevent speeding is a public good in my view.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:37 pm
by SteveClem
I agree! Nanny state gone mad. Matching speeds as you join a motorway often means exceeding the limit.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:43 pm
by pgp001
Not if all the other motorway users have them fitted as well :D

I dare say that the technology will be a two way thing as well, so if you do go over the limit it knows when to send you a speeding fine !!

Phil

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:59 pm
by Chief
In particular, many cars already have a forward-facing camera, but there is a question mark over whether the sign-recognition technology is up to scratch.
I saw a video recently on YouTube of someone driving a modern (2018/19) car with a system that warned them what the speed limit was by reading the signs. A number 30 bus on a 60mph road - well it read the bus number okay :lol:

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:02 pm
by TDV102
Ooooh...Daily Mail... Best use for that is to stop minor oil leaks from marking the floor.

OK perhaps a kneejerk reaction....but once the technology is there I am sure the next step is control and monitoring. Look at the burgeoning forests of cash... I mean speed cameras. I don't condone excessive speed but as I said bad driving and stupidity cause accidents far more often than speed. The real annoyance is that governments want to control every aspect of our lives.

Remember, mile for mile, motorways with their high average speed (normally well over 70) are the safest roads in the UK

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 2:35 pm
by Edward1949
Nothing new here - many trucks and light van fleets are already fitted with speed regulators and have been for years. You soon get used to hitting your ceiling speed and drive accordingly. It makes for a relaxing drive and discourages risky competitive driving.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:59 pm
by irmscher
Would be far better for learner drivers maybe for the first two years.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:04 am
by myoldjalopy
The faster you go, the less able you are to control the car in an emergency. However, bad driving is more to do with carelessness, recklessness, aggression and downright stupidity. I always said if there were a big, sharp spike sticking out of the steering wheel, people would drive much more carefully! :lol:

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:23 am
by dp
geoberni wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:35 pm I love it when armchair experts comment on stories without reading up on it first. That's why the Daily Mail has so many readers, they're all incapable of making their own minds up. :roll:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47715415
Says someone who cites the BBC as a source of truth - guffaw

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 2:11 pm
by IslipMinor
I've the only close call I've had in 40 years of driving at 'naughty' speed was due to a pensioner pulling out of a minor side road on to a straight main road with excellent visibility without looking!
Wasn't that on the news recently, somewhere in Norfolk?

Mmm, the No. 30 bus = 30mph speed limit. I borrowed my wife's dash satnav last week on a visit to Ireland, and it got totally confused over speed limits! We have used it many times in the Minor in 'kilometre' countries and never had a problem.

This time, on the outward journey from Dublin and driving west for 3 hours, I had not set it to 'kilometres', and the actually car speed was correct, but in mph of course. However, the speed limits and speed camera warnings were very amusing - 100kph was shown as 160kph = 100 mph! The same error was shown for all the limits. On the way back I reset it to kph, and the conversion problem was still there.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:30 am
by Blaketon
I heard that new cars are to be fitted with these from 2023 but that's all I heard. As someone who doesn't intend to buy another car (Maybe if I came into a small fortune, I could be tempted by a pre war Morgan or MG), it's of no consequence. That said I think there some who need to be curbed, not least some on motorcycles. Last weekend I think a few were killed in the Brecon Beacons area. It was the first fine and warm weekend of the year and I think some them must have come out on the bikes and left their brains at home. You have to consider that some of them don't really have the ability to ride the faster bikes quickly and if they've been off the road for a few months, you lose touch anyway.

People do stupid things, no matter what the activity. I run a bike shop and whilst there is no doubt, that a lot of motorist/cyclist incidents are down to the motorist (Often because they assume all bikes do 10mph, because that's all they can pedal one at), I know there are plenty of dull cyclists and these days, to that, you can add the word vain (Who spend loads on the bike, apparently to save ounces, when they themselves are a few stone overweight).

I don't know that I'd fancy a limiter on the car, as anything computer controlled can go wrong (I have heard that these recent aeroplane crashes were caused by a computer controlled system going wrong). I use a Snooper 3Zero, which I move from car to car and I find that very useful. Provided speed limit signs are not hidden and the cameras set up properly, I have no problem with more extensive use of fixed and average speed cameras. I think young drivers carry a kind of transponder, which allows their insurance company to see how fast they have gone. Maybe something more like that would be better for all of us.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:24 pm
by BrianHawley
The big problem with speed limiters could be bunching of traffic.

If cars are physically limited to 60 on a 60 limit road, we can assume that most people will drive at the maximum speed the limiter allows. Of course it won’t be exactly 60 for all limiters. Due to manufacturing and calibration tolerances, some will be 60.5, some 59.8 and so forth.

The slightly faster cars will bunch up behind the slightly slower ones and they won’t have enough margin to overtake.

Bunching is dangerous and slows traffic. That is what ‘smart’ motorways with variable speed limits are intended to prevent.

Now a high limit, say 20 above the posted limit, might be workable. It would still be possible to drive ‘normally’, but nobody could do 150 mph in a 30 limit.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:04 pm
by Blaketon
Yes I think tailgaiting (Or in your boot as it was once called) would become even more endemic. On a road, not far from my shop, they have painted double white lines. Visibility is good and I think it's been done in the hope that (Assuming people abide by it) no overtaking will lower speeds. It seems to have resulted in cars going by in groups, as if forming part of a train.

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:38 pm
by Sleeper
Blaketon wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:04 pm . It seems to have resulted in cars going by in groups, as if forming part of a train.
Just like Formula1....

John :wink:

Re: Speed Limiters

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:38 pm
by Nickol
Although personnaly I think that not having a General upper Speed Limit on our Autobahnen is absurd, ( the only other countries in the world that do not have one are apparantly the Isle of Mann and Republik of Sudan) it does mean that the tailgating referred to, as a rule does not happen.

For sure I have seen two cars at 220km/hr plus racing each other in the outside lane but unless there is a given Speed Limit, we tend to pull over quite quickly after overtaking. This is because there is nearly always a faster, though not normally agressive Driver wanting to get through and because there is no upperlimit, psychologically you cannot substantiate hogging the overtaking lane for too Long.

So the only time you see the outside lane bumper to bumper is when a 120km (for example) exists.