In an attempt to help improve levels of road safety across the continent, the European Union has announced measures to limit the speed of all new cars from 2022.
Following approval by the European Commission, all new cars will be fitted with intelligent speed assist (ISA) alongside a series of other safety assistance systems – with the governing body claiming that it could save more than 25,000 lives by 2038.
Although the UK may be out of the EU by that point, the assist would still be put in place on UK cars following approval by the UK Vehicle Certification Agency. The VCA has previously stated that it will aligned with EU vehicle legislation even after Brexit has taken place.
The ISA system would include fitting a black box to vehicles, which would use GPS to determine the speed limit of the road, then reduce the amount of power available from the engine.
The European Commission also confirmed that automated emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection as well as lane keeping assist will be fitted as standard on all new cars.
EU Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, said: “With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when safety belts were first introduced.
“Many of the new features already exist, in particular in high–end vehicles. Now we raise the safety level across the board, and pave the way for connected and automated mobility of the future.”
However, Edmund King, president of the AA, is not in favour of these new measures and said: “There is no doubt that new in-car technology can save lives and there is a good case for autonomous emergency braking to be fitted in all cars. When it comes to intelligent speed adaptation, the case is not so clear.
“The best speed limiter is the driver’s right foot and the driver should use it to do the right speed in the right situation. The right speed is often below the speed limit, for example outside a school with children about, but with ISA there may be a temptation to go at the top speed allowed which may not be appropriate.
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“Sometimes a little speed also helps to keep safe on the road, for example over-taking a tractor on a country road or joining a motorway.”
This comes after Volvo said that it would limit the top speed of all its vehicles from 2021 to 112mph.
