► Mandatory speed limiters planned
► Will use road signs and GPS data
► EU Parliament to confirm on April 2
The European Parliament has released new plans to introduce mandatory speed limiters in all new cars sold in the region from 2022, among other fresh safety tech to be installed.
The ‘Intelligent Speed Assistance’ safety kit is designed to use speed limit road signs and GPS navigation data to actively reduce your speed, but the system can be overidden. We’ve already tried the software in one of our regular ‘Does It Work?’ features – check it out here.
Europe’s Parliament says ‘the equipment could reduce fatalities on EU roads by 20%’ and Róża Thun, a Polish member of the European Parliament said ‘this will not only make us safer, but also help drivers to avoid speeding tickets.’
Dr. Suzy Charman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation, said ‘we welcome these technologies with open arms, recognising that to make them work as well as they can we still need investment in our roads to ensure lining and signing are both as clear as consistent as possible so that cars can read the road to help us drive safely.’
The agreement is provisional for now, as it needs to be confirmed by member states, committees and the EU Council for final approval.
It’s not the only part of the plans; the Parliament is also requesting all new cars be equipped with data recorders to assist during crashes and other safety tech already found optionally on many premium cars like reversing assistance, lane keep assist and drivier distraction warnings.
If it were to go through, it is highly likely that the UK will enforce it, even after Brexit – the Vehicle Certification Agency has said that it will continue its relationship with European partners ‘by pursuing a mutual recognition of UK and EU type-approval certification.’
The news follows on not long after Volvo announced its plans to limit cars to 112mph and introduce driver-facing cameras to monitor for distractions or intoxication.
Read more industry news here