UK fights EU bid to introduce speed limit devices
Discussion
Call me cynical, but does anyone else think the main reason the UK is against these speed limiters is due to the nice stream of revenue they are getting from fines.
If "speed kills" and is the epitome of danger shouldn't they be accepting this with open arms. The double standards and hypocrisy makes me sick.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/uk-fi...
This has been rumbling around for years. ADAS I think is one of the incarnations and depends on the new Galileo GPS. I think car makers will also be lobbying for it? The cynical in me says its sod all to do with safety and all to do with making the European GPS have a use. Not sure it is to do with revenue, more a case of something else to beat them to death with at the ballot box.
Edit. Opps. two threads?
Edit. Opps. two threads?
Edited by jmorgan on Sunday 1st September 14:43
Carcharodon said:
Call me cynical, but does anyone else think the main reason the UK is against these speed limiters is due to the nice stream of revenue they are getting from fines.
If "speed kills" and is the epitome of danger shouldn't they be accepting this with open arms. The double standards and hypocrisy makes me sick.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/uk-fi...
Damned if they do etc..If "speed kills" and is the epitome of danger shouldn't they be accepting this with open arms. The double standards and hypocrisy makes me sick.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/uk-fi...
Would you rather our ministers didnt fight it?
Current vehicles with limiters, lorries and buses and so on, tend to be driven by professionals who know how to handle the setup. They would have had training and such to cope with the fact that they cannot exceed a certain speed.
The average driver has not. In fact most people, on a motorway, will come across situations that require speed above 70 mph to avoid collisions. For example I'm in the slow lane at 70 passing a short slip road, there is a car on the slip road doing 60 and another in the fast lane close behind. The safest course of action is for me to increase speed slightly, open a gap and move out. If I was prevented from doing so by an electronic then I would either have to dive into a gap that may not exist; perform an emergency stop or expect the slip road car to do the same.
The potential for accidents would increase enormously under such circumstances. Being able to break the speed limit for very short periods is vital for road safety in my opinion. If all cars were travelling at the same speed all the time then we would end up with all manner of hazardous situations, such as two cars driving next to each other for long periods. Overtaking would be unnecessarily drawn out and people would have to take further risks with gaps etc.
Additionally if a driver is incompetent, accelerates to the limit and keeps their foot down the system will apply the brakes. After a few miles of constant, gentle braking the pads will overheat resulting in diminished braking when it is actually required.
The arguments against this far outweigh any practical benefit.
The average driver has not. In fact most people, on a motorway, will come across situations that require speed above 70 mph to avoid collisions. For example I'm in the slow lane at 70 passing a short slip road, there is a car on the slip road doing 60 and another in the fast lane close behind. The safest course of action is for me to increase speed slightly, open a gap and move out. If I was prevented from doing so by an electronic then I would either have to dive into a gap that may not exist; perform an emergency stop or expect the slip road car to do the same.
The potential for accidents would increase enormously under such circumstances. Being able to break the speed limit for very short periods is vital for road safety in my opinion. If all cars were travelling at the same speed all the time then we would end up with all manner of hazardous situations, such as two cars driving next to each other for long periods. Overtaking would be unnecessarily drawn out and people would have to take further risks with gaps etc.
Additionally if a driver is incompetent, accelerates to the limit and keeps their foot down the system will apply the brakes. After a few miles of constant, gentle braking the pads will overheat resulting in diminished braking when it is actually required.
The arguments against this far outweigh any practical benefit.
Article said:
A government source said: "It is definitely something that he is keen to resist and [the transport secretary] has told officials that it is something we don't want to do. To be forced to have automatic controls in your car amounts to Big Brother nannying by EU bureaucrats."
That is exactly, almost word for word, the opinion of the vast majority of PHers. And you start a thread arguing it because it's hypocritical? Wow.More like Patrick McLoughlin has realised that while yes, excessive or inappropriate speed can be dangerous, there is absolutely no need to forcibly restrict every driver on the road. Again, just as the vast majority of PHers would say.
When someone in a position of authority realises the real answer is higher test standards and better driver training, then suddenly deaths will plummet and all this will be consigned to the "look how stupid we were" section of history.
McSam said:
Article said:
A government source said: "It is definitely something that he is keen to resist and [the transport secretary] has told officials that it is something we don't want to do. To be forced to have automatic controls in your car amounts to Big Brother nannying by EU bureaucrats."
That is exactly, almost word for word, the opinion of the vast majority of PHers. And you start a thread arguing it because it's hypocritical? Wow.More like Patrick McLoughlin has realised that while yes, excessive or inappropriate speed can be dangerous, there is absolutely no need to forcibly restrict every driver on the road. Again, just as the vast majority of PHers would say.
When someone in a position of authority realises the real answer is higher test standards and better driver training, then suddenly deaths will plummet and all this will be consigned to the "look how stupid we were" section of history.
Futuramic said:
Additionally if a driver is incompetent, accelerates to the limit and keeps their foot down the system will apply the brakes. After a few miles of constant, gentle braking the pads will overheat resulting in diminished braking when it is actually required.
As it'll have an electronic throttle, what the driver's hoof is doing is largely irrelevant, it'll just close it off once he/she was up to the limit, no need for brakes.If it's done by EU regulation it will take direct effect in all EU member states without going near in-country parliaments, so there won't even be a vote in the Commons. Nobody in the UK parliament voted for mandatory stability control, EU emissions regs, DRLs etc. The UK transport department can argue against it in Brussels but in the end will have to do what the Commission decides, as with so many other aspects of EU-wide policy.
Commissioners, of course, do not have to stand for election so are not hugely concerned about what the people think.
Commissioners, of course, do not have to stand for election so are not hugely concerned about what the people think.
Edited by Lowtimer on Monday 2nd September 11:37
Daston said:
Clivey said:
The article states that older vehicles would have to be retrofitted with "devices". - How are they going to do that in a car without an electronic throttle, ECU or even fuel injection?
Plus who is A) going to check and B) foot the bill?(b) errrrrrrrrrrrr, YOU ARE.
So after a fortune has been spent physically forcing everyone to obey speed limits, and still people die, what then? Accept that speed isn't really the problem?
Nah, once you can force compliance with speed limits however ludicrous, you just lower the limits further. And further. And further.
Nah, once you can force compliance with speed limits however ludicrous, you just lower the limits further. And further. And further.
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