"Drivers wary of safety benefits of EU vehicle control" IAM

[Cliftonite]

News Release

24 October 2013

Drivers wary of safety benefits of EU vehicle control

Three quarters of drivers are concerned that the use of Intelligent Speed Adaptations (ISAs) will compromise safety, according to research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM).

Last month, the EU announced that they were considering rules for new cars to be installed with Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) technology. This would be capable of detecting limits through cameras or satellites and automatically applying the brakes. Existing vehicles could be forced to be retrofitted with the devices.

Seventy-eight per cent of drivers don’t want to see the retro fitting of ISA technology onto older vehicles.

Fifty-seven per cent of drivers feel that ISAs won’t have a positive impact on road safety – avoiding crashes, deaths and injuries.

There is overwhelming support for ISAs when vehicle control remains with the driver. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents would prefer ISAs to operate with warning messages with no control of the vehicle.

Respondents do feel that there are some benefits to ISAs. Fifty-two per cent see a reduced likelihood of speeding convictions and less money spent on traffic calming measures such as road humps.

Thirty-one per cent of respondents feel that, if enforced, ISAs should be restricted to younger drivers, newly qualified drivers and drivers with previous road-related convictions.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “ISAs could help to save lives but it’s clear that drivers remain dubious about the benefits of the technology. More research into the benefits would help to reassure the public that this will improve road safety.

”Unfortunately, over a third of respondents see this as a way of controlling drivers, I believe if drivers are trained properly and have access to on-going learning, the government would not need to enforce ISAs.”

ENDS

[stevesingo]

Cheaper and easier than controling people through training and education.

What will stop someone driving at 70mph in thick fog?

[Cliftonite]

stevesingo said:

Cheaper and easier than controling people through training and education.

What will stop someone driving at 70mph in thick fog?

Sometimes it's an HGV at the back of a queue!

[METHS]

This will never happen.

They'll loose all their revenue from penalty points.

[airbrakes]

I'd like to see them try and retrofit it to +ve earth classic cars, or even just ECU/ABS free older cars as well

[Rawwr]

airbrakes said:

I'd like to see them try and retrofit it to +ve earth classic cars, or even just ECU/ABS free older cars as well

Don't get too excited, they'll just be made illegal to be used on the public highways.

[pimpchez]

Skynet control , the death of the petrolhead .Although it wont his us for about 100 years i reckon

[aka_kerrly]

airbrakes said:

I'd like to see them try and retrofit it to +ve earth classic cars, or even just ECU/ABS free older cars as well

Don't make comments like that. If those fools at the EU realise this there will probably end up being a ban on all cars over 20 years old in less they pass a EU set of guidelines on what qualifies as a classic car and when classic cars are allowed to be used.

I hate all this EU control rubbish not just when it comes to speed limits but the entire concept that someone will know every time I chose to drive my privately owned/funded cars and where I go at what times and so forth.

[dave7692]

"Thirty-one per cent of respondents feel that, if enforced, ISAs should be restricted to younger drivers, newly qualified drivers and drivers with previous road-related convictions."

So yet more restrictions and expense put on young drivers when a large percentage have not committed any offences and likely wont? Sounds right up the government's street to me.

[Cliftonite]

aka_kerrly said:

< snip >

I hate all this EU control rubbish not just when it comes to speed limits but the entire concept that someone will know every time I chose to drive my privately owned/funded cars and where I go at what times and so forth.

Can this not be done already, at least in certain circumstances, by the existing ANPR network???

[dave7692]

Cliftonite said:

aka_kerrly said:

< snip >

I hate all this EU control rubbish not just when it comes to speed limits but the entire concept that someone will know every time I chose to drive my privately owned/funded cars and where I go at what times and so forth.

Can this not be done already, at least in certain circumstances, by the existing ANPR network???

To a certain extent but having what is essentially a tracker fitted to every new car to detail every minor movement is a whole new level.

[aw51 121565]

aka_kerrly said:

airbrakes said:

I'd like to see them try and retrofit it to +ve earth classic cars, or even just ECU/ABS free older cars as well

Don't make comments like that. If those fools at the EU realise this there will probably end up being a ban on all cars over 20 years old in less they pass a EU set of guidelines on what qualifies as a classic car and when classic cars are allowed to be used.

It's all a case of being careful what we wish for... "Oldtimer" vehicles in Germany and France - those with the equivalent of a "Historic" vehicle taxation class in the UK - are subject to restrictions on use such as their driving being restricted to the equivalent of the UK county where the car 'lives' (Greater Manchester, for example, or Lancashire); from memory the German equivalent is Canton and the French equivalent is Departmente.

I also seem to recall that there are limits on using "oldtimer" vehicles for commuting in both countries, and in Germany cars must comply with Euro 1, 2, 3 or 4 exhaust emissions standards to allow them to travel in certain conurbations (and some areas have higher standards and require Euro 4 compliance [and a sticker in the 'screen to suit] whereas others have lower standards and require compliance with only Euro 1 or 2)... Cars non-compliant with Euro 1/2/3/4 are forbidden in these areas, this'll be foreign classic cars and "oldtimers" then .

Thin end of the wedge?

[kambites]

I'd like to know how they'd set about retro-fitting a system to apply the brakes to my car.

[Fleckers]

kambites said:

I'd like to know how they'd set about retro-fitting a system to apply the brakes to my car.

that would mean its "modded" and your insurance company will charge you £1 squillion clam shell extra