Every driver in the UK is being warned that mandatory speed limit devices will become law on Monday morning.
A new law introduced by the European Union which automatically applies to the UK means every car must have a speed limiter device installed into the car as standard.
Technically, it isn’t law in the UK, but manufacturers are extremely unlikely to rip them out of models sold in the UK just for the UK because of knock-on effects on costs that making the changes just for one country could bring.
And any cars manufactured before Monday and sold from Monday must be ‘retrofitted’ to include one.
The devices must vibrate, make noises, and even slow down a vehicle automatically when it detects a speed limit being broken.
Drivers will be able to deactivate the limiters, but they’ll be instantly reactivated upon getting back in the car so you have to keep on deactivating them every time you drive.
But Ben Pepper, Senior Associate at Bolt Burdon Kemp has warned that drivers must not disable the limiters because of the knock on effect it could have on road deaths as well as affect your insurance premium price.
He said: “A third of road fatalities are caused by excessive speed, and the limiters should help reduce collisions. However, it will be possible to deactivate them, meaning it could have little impact on injuries and fatalities caused by speeding.
“UK drivers are still impacted by this EU law change as many vehicles in the UK are made in Europe, and likewise, UK manufacturers are producing cars suitable for the EU market. Any car sold from 7 July, will need to have the Intelligent Speed Assistance fitted.
“Drivers would be wise to use the speed limiter and not try to override the system to reduce the risk of causing harm to themselves and other road-users.
“I would expect to see cases involving injuries and deaths caused by excessive speed in new vehicles take account of whether limiters were switched off too.
“As a firm we’re campaigning for the new government to improve road safety, read our manifesto here.”
RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “While it’s not currently mandated that cars sold in the UK have to be fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems, we’d be surprised if manufacturers deliberately excluded the feature from those they sell in the UK as it would add unnecessary cost to production.
“Anyone getting a new vehicle would be well advised to familiarise themselves with ISA and how it works. In practice, if a driver exceeds the speed limit, an audible warning is sounded and then the car’s speed is automatically reduced. But a driver can still press hard on the accelerator to override it momentarily, for instance to negotiate a hazard in the road ahead.
“But just because a vehicle’s speed can be limited doesn’t mean drivers should accelerate as fast as possible to the speed limit. It’s important to always drive at the right speed for the conditions, whether that’s due to traffic, bad weather or other hazards.”