Why Aren't New Cars Speed Limited?
Discussion
This might be a bit silly sounding but why aren't all UK registered new cars legally limited to 70MPH? The only reason I can think of for not having it limited is for participation in legal, organised off-public-roads performance events such as track days/sprints et al.
Obviously this kind of draconian measure would only be imposed by someone like France and the logistics required of it scares the bejesus out of me but how about all new cars being required to be fitted with a tacho like device that records the maximum speed over say 7 days? Technology is surely advanced enough to do that.
I'm not for it you understand, just curious as to why it's not been punted out there given thet Damon Hill 55MPH debacle and the current health & safety mobs.
Obviously this kind of draconian measure would only be imposed by someone like France and the logistics required of it scares the bejesus out of me but how about all new cars being required to be fitted with a tacho like device that records the maximum speed over say 7 days? Technology is surely advanced enough to do that.
I'm not for it you understand, just curious as to why it's not been punted out there given thet Damon Hill 55MPH debacle and the current health & safety mobs.
Edited by Fireblade69 on Tuesday 3rd July 22:03
Mandat said:
What happens when you go to France, where the limit on the Autoroutes is 80, or in Germany, where some Autobahns are derestricted?
This is one of the logistical challenges that could be overcome by entry and exit derestrictors in ports. The same could apply to race tracks. I thought I heard that the Nissan GT-R is restricted by SatNav and would derestrict itself if it was on a race track.
Fireblade69 said:
This is one of the logistical challenges that could be overcome by entry and exit derestrictors in ports. The same could apply to race tracks. I thought I heard that the Nissan GT-R is restricted by SatNav and would derestrict itself if it was on a race track.
Autocar said:
In Japan, the GT-R's sat-nav (it doubles as the drive computer) is linked to the engine ECU. This means it knows where it is, and in principle at least, how fast it is allowed to travel at any given place. Sound terrifying? Well it should. Nissan has stopped short of the full big-brother treatment, but for now the Japanese car is limited to 112mph on the road and will only allow the full 190mph once the navigation software is certain that the car is on a circuit. Many people see the new GT-R as the resurrection of a great sports car, but the irony is it might just have launched the technology that will terminally damage enjoyable road driving in the future.
Olivera said:
What if you want to simply exceed 70mph on:
Racetrack
1/4 mile strip
Hillclimb route
Airfield (e.g. trackday)
A rolling road
Any other private ground
Isle of Man
That's before even considering limits in Europe above 70mph and also derestricted autobahn.
And that's all part of the logistical nightmare. Isle of Man doesn't count though, same as Jersey, Guernsey etc as they are technically crown dependencies & therefore foreign Racetrack
1/4 mile strip
Hillclimb route
Airfield (e.g. trackday)
A rolling road
Any other private ground
Isle of Man
That's before even considering limits in Europe above 70mph and also derestricted autobahn.
lbc said:
We could still all drive at 70 in a 20 or 30, so what would be the point?
This of course points to the crux of the issue, and it is an issue which I have heard raised many times over the years by those of a myopic frame of mind who are unable to think things through properly."We have a national speed limit of 70, so why not limit all cars to 70? Easy, innit?"
No it ain't.
70 is the speed limit on motorways and dual carriageways (unless a different limit is in place) but it only applies to cars. Different limits apply to different classes of vehicle. There are people living in many parts of this island who never drive on a road that has a 70 speed limit, because they don't live anywhere near motorways or dual carriageways (like most of the population north of Perth or west of Swansea, and huge swathes of East Anglia for instance).
Automatically limiting cars to 70 would not stop speeding - it would only stop cars driving in excess of 70mph, which is only the speed limit on a tiny minority of roads. The vast majority of roads have limits lower than this where speeding could still take place, even with cars automatically limited to 70. Oddly enough, I would suggest, the most widely ignored speed limits in the country are those on motorways yet, equally oddly for the proponents of this suggestion, motorways are the safest roads we have.
Conclusion? People who think limiting all cars to 70 is a good idea as a safety measure should report at once to their nearest psychiatric hospital, and get their bumps felt ....
+1 rs1952.
Be worth looking at the statistics, how many people are killed/injured due to accidents exceeding 70mph speed limited roads vs people killed in 30/40mph roads? I have a feeling the latter is not only considerably greater but also will be entirely unaffected by a 70mph vehicle speed cap.
Basically the cost to the industry and negative political publicity is probably not worth the benefit.
Be worth looking at the statistics, how many people are killed/injured due to accidents exceeding 70mph speed limited roads vs people killed in 30/40mph roads? I have a feeling the latter is not only considerably greater but also will be entirely unaffected by a 70mph vehicle speed cap.
Basically the cost to the industry and negative political publicity is probably not worth the benefit.
John145 said:
+1 rs1952.
Be worth looking at the statistics, how many people are killed/injured due to accidents exceeding 70mph speed limited roads vs people killed in 30/40mph roads? I have a feeling the latter is not only considerably greater but also will be entirely unaffected by a 70mph vehicle speed cap.
Basically the cost to the industry and negative political publicity is probably not worth the benefit.
Per passenger kilometre, motorways are the safest road by far. The most dangerous roads are rural roads, which usually have a 60mph limit which is almost always far too fast for the road.Be worth looking at the statistics, how many people are killed/injured due to accidents exceeding 70mph speed limited roads vs people killed in 30/40mph roads? I have a feeling the latter is not only considerably greater but also will be entirely unaffected by a 70mph vehicle speed cap.
Basically the cost to the industry and negative political publicity is probably not worth the benefit.
70 feels quite a slowish speed on a motorway.
Most of the 'great unwashed' will drive on the limiter, hogging blind spots, driving too close for mile after mile.
I for one wouldn't like to be in the vicinity when one driver makes a mistake.
It's bad enough (and largely unnecessary) when camera enforcement 'forces' the 'sheep' to behave in this way. Think of rolling roadblocks in SPECS zones. Ugh!
A better solution to keeping speeds down on motorways (and the like) would be to fit average MPG readouts to cars.
Most of the 'great unwashed' will drive on the limiter, hogging blind spots, driving too close for mile after mile.
I for one wouldn't like to be in the vicinity when one driver makes a mistake.
It's bad enough (and largely unnecessary) when camera enforcement 'forces' the 'sheep' to behave in this way. Think of rolling roadblocks in SPECS zones. Ugh!
A better solution to keeping speeds down on motorways (and the like) would be to fit average MPG readouts to cars.
So what about the suggestion for an electronic car tachometer. If your speed is recorded and can be instantly seen by the authorities then would that influence behaviour? The point is, we can't be relied on to police ourselves as a population, just observe how many people still don't wear seatbelts or who still use the phone whilst driving, so at some point the tech Will catch up and will be used. 70 was chosen purely because you can't legally go faster anywhere in the country and as for the other speed limits, ever seen a 'limited to 60' lorry doing more than the posted speed in lower speed areas? Of course it'll happen, it seems to be human nature.
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