Motorists call on manufacturers to delay introduction of speed limiters in UK

08 September 2020 | Alyson Aslin

The majority of motorists want manufacturers to put the brakes on introducing speed limiters in all new cars according to a poll by Motorpoint.

Motorists call on manufacturers to delay introduction of speed limiters in UK

The majority of motorists want manufacturers to put the brakes on introducing speed limiters in all new cars according to a poll by Motorpoint.

The online survey on the Motorpoint website found 61 per cent of drivers were against the forthcoming change which is set to come into force from 2022. Some 1,524 people took part in the study by Motorpoint, the UK's largest independent car retailer, with a network of branches across England, Scotland and Wales.

Under new legislation passed by the European Commission, all vehicles in the EU would be fitted with a system, known as 'Intelligent Speed Assistance' (or ISAs), which would stop drivers from breaking the speed limit by using GPS to track a car's position as well as speed. The car would signal an alert when the road's speed limit has been reached. The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) believes limiters would help reduce collisions on the roads by 30% and save up to 25,000 lives within 15 years.

Mark Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer of Motorpoint, said: "While we welcome such new technology as part of the continuing drive to make our roads safer, we still need to guard against an over reliance on gadgets such as speed limiters when travelling in our cars and need to continue to keep our eyes on the road and hands on the wheel at all times."

Source: Motorpoint