EU Plans to Fit All Cars With Speed Limiters

This won´t happen, but if it happened, it think it would some benefits. It would force manufacturers to concentrate in other things, like making smaller, nimbler cars for mountain roads, which is not a bad thing in my book. It would also bring better looking and bigger variety of designs, as at low speeds aerodynamics are less relevant.

Although I´d put a higher speed limit, something around 150-160 kph.

 

In England we have a wonderful word for the EU commission
WANKERS.

 

Or those who have "truly gone fishing"!!

 

with an endless supply of rocket polish

 

I notice that most of the folks who seem to think this is a good idea, have little to nothing in their profiles and of course have no Ferrari.

If the socialists manage to sell this to an ignorant public based on the safety fantasy, they deserve it.

I think Ben Franklin said something to the effect of.... People who are willing to give up freedom for security, deserve neither.

 

For one moment forget all the crap that belongs to PR and think about the acceleration of a 600 bhp car with gear ratios for just 150 kph.

Whoa.

 

It won't happen primarily due to the revenues that go to governments due to speeding traps (cameras, etc.)

 

+10000

 

This is just the minority trying to impose there will on the majority. The same thing is happening here in the good old USA. Im sure Obama, Pelosi, Reed and all there Hippie friends are going to work on this one.

The threat of job losses doesnt bother them either, just look at the EPA and there war on coal.

 

IMO, they should put their money on improving collision-avoidance systems instead. These can come in many different forms that can all work together without being heavy-handed.

For instance, combine a proximity detection system and brake boosters to ensure sufficient braking pressure is applied during collision avoidance. Many accidents occur because people simply don't brake hard enough around the mid-point of their brake application. This can be easily gauged by a computer that knows the closing speed, rate of deceleration and distance to the object in its path.

Then there are the systems that automatically maintain a safe distance between your car and objects in its path.

Blind spot monitoring systems would also benefit everyone. Along the same lines, some sort of situational awareness display would help monitor vehicles around your car. If the same system is combined with GPS maps, traffic sensors, posted speed limits, road condition reports, rain sensors, road surface temperature sensors, ABS/slip sensors the system can warn you of a potential mismatch between your speed and road conditions as well as sections of roads you are approaching.

A simple display to tell the driver how slippery the road is, based on sensor readings, can help the driver adjust appropriate driving response. They don't have to set off alarms - they can be a simple display.

My '86 BMW used to issue warnings of icy roads based on road surface temperature determinations from its temp sensor. It worked well.

In a nutshell, implement systems that make the car work better, correct potentially catastrophic driver error and provide more useful information for the driver so the driver becomes more thoughtful and is better able to make sensible driving decisions. Applying a speed limiter assumes everyone has no brains and is incompetent.

 

As was posted in Silver, the E.U. story is apparently pure B.S., so all the bloviating and P&R crap can stop.

The EU Isn't Really Planning To Limit All Cars To 70 MPH After All

 

I found the German speed limits and trafic rules to be some of the most reasonable anywhere. The speeds in busy towns are low and they expect you to behave. The highway speeds are reasonable and much higher than the US. And the German speed limiter is 155 mph, which is a long way from 70.

 

Agreed. But that doesn't change the fact that they inspect cars at random, and that they'd be able to quickly ID modified speed limiters if they wanted to.

 

The German manufacturers factory set 155mph limit is simply a Gentleman's agreement that they all agreed upon, there's no legal legislation for it, and they are not all set to exactly 155mph! (if you get My meaning! ).

Also, there are ways to drive around the limiter, even with the standard factory ECU set-up, for example, when you hit the limiter in top gear, drop down a gear and for a few seconds you can accelerate to a speed above 155mph. After a few seconds, the ECU cottons on to what's happened and pegs you back to "155mph" but you can simply repeat the process over and over again.

Added to that, if you pay for the performance package on such cars as the BMW M5, they will not only reprogramme the ECU for more power, but they will also remove the limiter!