A new piece of “road safety” technology has now become unavoidable for Motorists who want to buy a new car in the UK.
Since the start of this year, every new car sold is now fitted with a mandatory speed limiter, which is “compulsory” according to the EU, despite that fact that the UK supposedly left the EU in 2020…
The system is called Intelligent Speed Assistance.
A Motorist who documented what it’s like to live with day-to-day on YouTube said the system regularly misreads speed limits, gets confused by road layouts, and prevents you from overtaking.
He said the car often slows down at exactly the wrong moment — for example when overtaking a slow moving vehicle.
But of course — according to the power crazed bureaucrats who mandate this sort of thing — that’s YOUR fault, because you shouldn’t be overtaking a caravan driving at 17mph in the first place!
The official line, of course, is that this is about safety.
But is it really? Or is there a greater motivation at work here, to advance the nanny state even further, until it controls every single aspect of our lives?
Whats most concerning to me isn’t the technology itself, but the principle behind it.
It assumes the driver cannot be trusted — as though we are children who need to be told how to do everything — and that intervenes without context.
Of course the natural evolution of this is state sanctioned software deciding where you can go, as well as how you get there.
“Have you said something we don’t like on social media recently? That’s hate speech, so you can’t leave the city!”
“Did you vote for the wrong political party? You’re a traitor, so your car isn’t going to work anymore!”
5 years ago, some Members used to think I was a bit mad for saying things like this. But it seems the “totalitarian tiptoe” is becoming more and more obvious to almost everyone now.
I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Do you believe they are really about road safety …or is it yet another step towards automated enforcement and compliance?
Let me know what you think in the comments here!
All the best,
Adam
Hate pretty much everything about new cars. That’s just another item to the list
Plus, more to go wrong so more time off the road & money outta your pocket to the Stealership!
Yet another useless, dangerous rule from a useless, dangerous government.
Agree
I use a speed limiter and find it very good and helps stop me getting speed tickets but it is a device that I decide to use when I want.
Think the powers should reinstate that old rule of a man with a red flag walking in front but if they did what would the police do for money and would they use all speed cops for crime work. Wishful thinking.
absolutely nothing to do with ‘safety’–, a word which is constantly used to appease the masses. it is all about control,revenue and manipulation. The totalitarian tiptoe is here.
I totally agree that every single person like a robot dictate everything we can do I love my classic cars nothing newer than 20 years old can compare! Rant over
I was driving my wife’s T-Rock which has this system to monitor what the road speed is and when you have the cruise control on its quite nice until you come across an area on the M1 which has in the past some road works and the speed limit was 50mph. The car then suddenly brakes when I am in the centre lane to go down to 50mph on a clear road. The car behind was not amused; luckily, I realised what had happened and slammed the accelerator down. I travel the M1 from London to Nottingham regularly so now know what do when this happens. I don’t know how long it takes whoever to change the control signals. This sort of problem can cause an accident at speed
I wont be buying a new car, I bought my current Lexus in 2019 and it has done 8K miles. However, my computer genius tells me he can permanently disable the speed limiter from the car’s computer , which is the route I would use. Every move the halfwit government make is badly flawed.
England’s crowded and (off the arterial routes often narrow and winding) roads are particularly unsuited to this.
My cars are 14 and 23 years old, very quick if I need them to be, and not hamstrung by this bollocks. One has an early form of lane assist, which tried to stop me changing lanes on the M20 about 15 minutes after I bought it.
A quick scroll through the menu sorted that out. Also the auto brake that slams the brakes on if I use any power to turn into my drive – it thinks I’m going to hit the garage door.
Nanny state run by utter morons. I bet none of them can even drive.
Rant all you like. We all know who signs us up for these rules that the majority voted against. First step, get rid of these dangerous morons.
Digital ID, CCTV facial recognition, average speed cameras, biometric border control et al, everything we do, say or soon think will be monitored by the state with automatic fines and punishment applied. Anybody who believes that we live in a free country is seriously deluded.
Outrageous. Sounds like a business opportunity to retrofit a switchable limiter bypass. Somewhat like the DVD-region bypass retrofits of another era.
Mandatory Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) limiters in new cars can be deactivated or overridden, but not permanently disabled. Regulations require that the system resets to “on” every time the car is started. It can be bypassed temporarily by pressing hard on the accelerator or via vehicle settings.
Annoying, but not the end of the world. There are much bigger problems.
Incorrect. The Engineering software that most Jaguar Land Rover techies carry around with them in the boot can permanently disable any ADAS-configured feature, permanently, in a matter of seconds. Other Brands are available.
How long before it becomes a compulsory part of the MOT, however, is anyone’s guess.
Nanny state taking control of when and how we use our vehicles. Guess they want us to go back to horse and cart
There is just TOO much reliance on “technology” The whole system is geared to know exactly what everyone is doing all the time. Al l part of the dystopian plan. Lord only knows what information the electronics in the latest Chinees electric cars are collecting
I agree with you entirely, so how is this used can it be turned off manualy as with stop start ? how legal can this be when we are NOT in the EU ?
More nonsense that could actually be illegal if it is an EU directive as we are no longer in the EU.
Our government for me are the worst in living memory and hope our electorate will think long and hard when voting in the future.
Counter productive for the revenue generating cameras!
Last year i suffered a stroke ( i’m well into my 60’s ) and that has effectively bought my driving days to an end. At first i was absolutely gutted as i very much enjoyed driving, and especially riding on 2 wheels, but of course that enjoyment is rapidly becoming a heinous crime in this ‘safety first’ nanny state. This news, which doesn’t surprise me one iota, suggests that perhaps it’s better that i now drive anymore! I’m actually better off without the ‘official’ hassle that driving now entails.
You are absolutely right, I am sure the real reason for all these smart motorways and low emission zones is to allow the government to install surveillance technology to control vehicles on the road and their drivers. It’s all about these so called 15 min cities. Total control.
Got it in one.
Oxford is a primary example of it already creeping that way.
Every man to his pigeon hole!
I use a speed limiter when I want to. It can be set automatically to change with the speed limit, as set by the camera that reads road signs. It doesn’t work in that mode because the camera reads any sign within its field of vision so if you pass a side road with a lower limit, or a conditional sign such as you find near schools, the car will randomly slow down, which is dangerous.
Seemed likely this was the next step after the 20mph came in. Next step will be can’t get insurance without it. Slow boiling frogs again, can’t have the masses revolting can we.
It seems that our beloved creatures of the “government” is slowly slowly catching the monkey. One bit at a time using AI and all other means to take control not only of our means of private transport, but all aspects of our lives. Car speed control is yet another means to drive us onto public transport and keep us drivers off the road all together. God help us – is there a sensible group of people anywhere near the possibility of taking over before this labour mob destroy our beloved country.
Thank-you Adam for highlighting this sad issue.
You will own nothing, and be happy.
I have a new Dacia with just notifications, in a rural area and the speed technology gets it wrong constantly. I am sure in urban it is likely better but that doesn’t help.
Had a loan car(Seat) for a few days and the two don’t agree for many stretches of road, so actually limiting the speed would be a nightmare.
This stuff is just not ready to take over, however well meaning(?) the government may be thinking
I said at the time these were proposed, it was a step toward control, and was laughed at. Personally, I think it’s time to refuse to buy new – only old cars, without interferring tech for me now.
I haven’t come across this feature, but on a Courtesy Car I had a couple of months ago, the whole dashboard was confusing, as I finally found the Speedo was a small digital number in the bottom right-hand corner.
The whilst driving along a dual carriageway in the left-hand lane, I was approaching a large parked Van, and as there was nothing else for a very long distance, both in front of me & behind me, I went to pull around it.
Lo & behold, I had to fight the steering wheel to avoid crashing into the back of it.
When I took the Courtesy Car back, I was told it’s called “Lane Assist”, well it didn’t assist me, so it should be called something like “Lane Hinder”, as it could be fatal.
This from a government that thinks it is a good safe idea to use the escape lane on so called smart motorways as an extra lane. Time they introduced a minimum intelligence level for members of the UK cabinet.
The U.K. is 4 or 5 in the list of over 100 countries in the world for road safety.
So the Government should not be troubled about road safety AT All and it should be a very low priority
Most accidents are caused by not paying attention properly. That’s what police records say.
So this obsession with speed MUST be about control.
Vote out the incompetent politicians and top of the list is the green people. Have you seen their latest nonsense?
There is not the slightest chance I will ever buy a new car as these seem to be designed for people who can’t drive. As I am old enough to vote, fight for my country, fly a plane, drive a 400bhp car I am quite capable of deciding at what speed I should drive and in what lane I should drive in. I am also quite capable of deciding when to switch on lights, wipers etc. Like an earlier post says, don’t buy a new car. Buy a supercharged V8 and to hell with it. I’m going to enjoy mine while I can.
First thing I’m thinking in response to this is that my 2020 M2 Competition is going to go up in value :-D .
Remember what happened with ‘smart’ motorways?
I think there is a decent chance of similar happening with modern high safety tech and self driving cars i.e. they end up causing more danger instead of preventing it.
I drive a Mazda at the moment, don’t know who programmed the computer but they need some serious lessons in driving. It’s an accident waiting to happen. The only reasonable thing is the speed limiter I have set it for 120mph . The rest is going to kill someone. Jamming the brakes on at the wrong time. Lane departure forcing you back in to a blocked lane.
The guy who did the YouTube article didn’t do his homework or chose to ignore it. All Speed Limiters have to have a Driver Override, activated by simply pressing hard on the accelerator.
Thay can also be disabled by switch similar to the “Start-Stop” function and as with the “Start-Stop” function reset each time the engine is started. This complies with the regulations that require systems to be active by default.
Answer: Make a habit of switching then off each time you start the engine and avoid the hassle.
If its ALL NEW CARS then police cars should be fitted aswell BY LAW, but I bey they are not
When I go out to eat I choose what I want to eat.I choose what I want to drink.But here we are,other people deciding what speed I can drive at.Are we at some point going to have a micro chip same as what my dog has.It could then monitor where we go and when Not to worried about it all,there will be people who will dissable it for me.I will do a moonie at the next speed camera I come across.
As per hit the motorist, glad I’m not buying a new car.
All about control and you can bet your bottom dollar there is a kill switch built into all electric vehicles. Watch this space.
I wonder? The powers that be collect a huge amount from speeding fines. Why would they cut off this lucrative revenue stream?