New cars, vans, lorries and buses are to be sold in Europe will be fitted with a speed limiter as standard from 2022.
According to a provisional EU deal on the legislation reached last night in Strasbourg, all the aforementioned vehicles will be fitted with a new set of safety features as standard.
Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) black boxes which use GPS to determine the speed limit to ensure cars don’t breach it will be required to be fitted to all new vehicles from within the next three years.
The European Commission approved the legislation which will also see cars have driver assistance systems such as Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection and Lane Keep Assistance (LKA) added as standard.
This usually will even include cars on sale in Britain even if Brexit happens.
This was confirmed by the UK Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) which will mirror the ruling from the European Union.
A recent report from Brake and Direct Line, based on a survey of more than 2,000 UK drivers, found that drivers support these measures, with nearly 9 in 10 agreeing that all new cars should be fitted with the latest life-saving safety features as standard.
The report also found that more than half of drivers would not spend more on a new car to ensure it had AEB, ISA or LKA, highlighting how the EU’s regulatory action will help deliver the life-saving potential of these technologies for all.
Commenting, Joshua Harris, director of campaigns for Brake, said: “This is a landmark day for road safety.
“These measures will provide the biggest leap forward for road safety this century, perhaps even since the introduction of the seat belt.
“These lifesaving measures come at a vital time, with road safety in a concerning period of stagnation with more than 70 people still being killed or seriously injured on British roads every day.
“The Government must commit to adopting these lifesaving regulations, no matter what happens with Brexit, with a recent Brake and Direct Line report finding that 9 in 10 UK drivers wanted car safety standards in the UK to remain at least as high as those in the EU, post-Brexit.”
AA president Edmund King has argued that the technology could make cars less safe.
“The right speed is often below the speed limit, for example, outside a school with children around, but with ISA there may be a temptation to go at the top speed allowed which may not be appropriate,” he said.
“Sometimes a little speed also helps to keep safe on the road, for example, overtaking a tractor on a country road or joining a motorway.”
The speed limiter system will work by automatically adjusting the maximum speed limit to reflect the limit on the road. Drivers should, however, be able to manually override the system by pressing firmly on the accelerator.
If drivers travel above the speed limit then they will revive a warning from the vehicle and an alert until the car travels under the correct speed limit.
It will come into effect for new models that have not yet been approved by May 2022. The EU is also set to approve production for cars currently on sale on the roads in Britain.
Estimations suggest that the limiters will be able to reduce traffic collisions by 30 per cent, which could save up to 25,000 lives in the first 15 years they come into force
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