Brits could face having speed limiters fitted to all new cars under government plans to improve safety on the roads, it has been reported.
Measures that would see lower speeds and reduce pollution by cars would also be backed by environmental groups.
But critics have also hit out at the “big brother” idea which would mean greater control by the state on people’s lives.
The government is expected to announce consultations over several possible proposals to reduce the power of engines or where an alarm would sound if drivers go over the speed limit, reported the Telegraph.
It would be a further method to stop speeding with 60mph limits on parts of smart motorways which are being enforced by police.
At the same time some MPs have blasted what they see as an “anti-driver campaign”, including Craig Mackinlay, Conservative chairman of the Fair Fuel UK Motorists and Hauliers all-party parliamentary group.
He, reported the Telegraph, said: “This will completely destroy the luxury car market, and I think there are so many aspects of the anti-driver campaign now that are coming to the fore.
“This is just more Big Brother in your cockpit. We’ll see more of this if we go up the route of road pricing. I don’t think people have thought of the freedom aspects of all of this. It just sounds very unconservative.”
Speeding could be detected using GPS devices and cameras on cars but potential problems would include where there are temporary restrictions in place.
Edmund King, the president of the AA, reportedly said: “The speed limits have to be totally accurate because the car is reacting to the speed limit. If you’ve got the wrong speed limit in the digital system, it might slow you to the wrong speed or allow you to speed to the wrong speed.”
A provisional agreement has been reached to make speed limiters mandatory for all new cars sold in Europe from July 6 2022. Even though the UK left the EU in 2020, it still follows the same regulations for new cars.
Another rule that is implemented into UK law has made it mandatory for all new cars to be fitted with intelligent speed assistance by July 7 2024.
Limiters use a technology called Intelligent Speed Assistant (ISA) to detect the local speed limit in the area using GPS and video data. They then eliminate the choice to go above the legal speed, or make it harder to. Manufacturers have a few options to implement this - from the system automatically reducing the engine’s power to visual, audio, and sensory signals to alert the driver.
Ford and Citroen are some of the car manufacturers who have already introduced speed limiting technology into new vehicles.
