Speed

[John-B]

If you are in a situation where "the driver gets caught out" and needs to exceed the speed limit then quite simply the driver has failed to observe the needs properly and failed to plan the manoeuvre properly.

You may drive safely and I hope I do, but many drivers aren't like you and do need to accelerate to complete a manoeuvre and I can see more accidents until people get used to a speed limiter.
Alternatively, cars crawl behind a slightly slow vehicle because they know the speed limiter will kick in and drivers get frustrated, which has its own dangers.

[Chris_R]

Possibly so. However, the technology is now in use albeit in a way that the driver can choose.
Other available technology includes lane assist that detects if you are wandering off a lane. Some trucks will not allow a lane change on a motorway unless the driver has activated the correct indicator. Other technology can detect if the driver is falling asleep and sound an alert. There is brake assist technology that stops you getting too close to a car in front of you. There is also technology that detects if a person steps in front of a car and automatically applies the brakes, much more quickly than the driver can react.
Regardless, all the authorities believe that inappropriate speed is a major contribution to road deaths and serious injuries and are determined to clamp down on it across the whole of Europe and any form of technology that will enforce that will be looked at. More and more 20mph zones are being introduced. If you think that is slow, in France they are introducing 30kmh (18.6mph) zones.
Now this "speed assist" technology is being developed, like other safety technologies, it will find its way gradually into all cars initially in a way that is selectable, but ultimately it will be mandatory. No manufacturer will want to be the first one to introduce a car voluntarily with a speed control that cannot be overriden by the driver but if it becomes an EU regulation, then all manufacturers will be in the same position.

[Salmons]

We have a new Peugeot and it has the same system that we have hadin all our cars for some years.

Its called my wife, when I am driving she gives continuous speed warnings and also warns me of anyone approaching the side of the road.

In addition on long journeys the Sat Nav gives bleeps everytime I exceed the speed limit.

I try to keep down to 30 and have only been caught by a camera once and that was when I was on my own.

[Petelang]

Modern cars are designed to go fast. My Daimler 15 only gets to 45 mph after an interminable long time.
The problem is there are a few who wear lead socks and can't keep from pressing the go pedal. These people make it bad for us all.
Instead of all this complex technology they just need to make it a lot more hard work to press the accelerator. That would soon alleviate the need to speed.
I think all Audi, BMW and Mercedes should be fitted with a massive spring under the pedal and be installed with a half ton weight under the floor, then perhaps there would be a bit more civilised behaviour!
Peter

[Chris_R]

Southend driver reveals simple trick to avoid speeding fines: http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/dri ... ty-points/

[John-B]

I think all Audi, BMW and Mercedes should be fitted with a massive spring under the pedal and be installed with a half ton weight under the floor, then perhaps there would be a bit more civilised behaviour!
Peter

That makes me think of narrow trunk roads in the 1950s when under-powered lorries crawled along at 35mph and the driver had put a brick on the accelerator pedal to keep the lorry going as fast as it could. No one could get past and it resulted in a long stream of traffic from one town to the next; very frustrating. Speed limiters may result in all that again as no one dares overtake because they might find the car can't go fast enough on the wrong side of the road.

Have you ever been on a road where a lorry is doing the regulation 50mph and tried to overtake at 60mph? It takes ages and is dangerous.

On the subject of speed limits, there's a dual carriageway in Salisbury with a 40mph limit and a downhill sliproad off it and a 20mph limit just after a sharp blind corner. Having braked from 40mph to 20mph quite quickly, there's a junction very close and several times a car waiting there has assumed I am slowing down to turn into the side road and he has pulled out in front of me. If I had just slowed to a normal town road speed those near accidents would never have happened.

Meanwhile I'm sitting watching all vehicles zoom past my driveway doing over 30mph just after passing the 20mph signs. However, most drivers seem to have lifted their foot off the accelerator pedal before braking after they have passed me, so a speed limiter wouldn't have any effect as it's operated by reducing power, which is what they are doing. It does make getting out of my drive difficult because fast traffic comes round a partly blind bend.