EU latest idea!

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 11:49 am

Ok, let me rephrase - they will never do this AND it's stupid.

£50 says our 'Ludes never get fitted with satellite activated speed limiters

Post by **Merlin** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 12:00 pm

£50 no car in the UK is fitted with them in the next 50 years.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 12:10 pm

I'll take that bet Merlin!
Although I don't think this will happen 'en-masse' driven by legislation like this in the next few years, I could see it happening within 50 years and certainly well within that on a small scale...

HGV's have been fitted with speed limiters for years and there are already black boxes that record and monitor speed etc. for insurance purposes (being retro-fitted to cars) so I can well see speed limiters for cars happening too, driven by insurance companies for younger drivers.

Post by **Lude-dude** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 12:37 pm

assuming everything doesn't all go mad max n jobby

then it will be anything goes, guns, spike rams, oil slicks etc..

Space1999 · Post by **Space1999** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:08 pm

The EU DOES have the power to introduce this proposal, should it so wish. That's why the UK minister did not say "we won't do it", he said he would fight it...

Just in case you hadn't noticed, about a year ago the EU proposed that ALL classic cars had to be 100% original, which would have banned older cars like ours with better brakes, wheels, dampers, etc., even old classics with upgraded cooling systems and headlights. This was proposed on the basis of many below-par, non-standard, parts being used in southern European car repairs, but would have had Europe-wide legality... It was intense lobbying from EU classic car groups, especially in Germany, stopped the bill, just in the nick of time.

You guys are far too complacent; you seem to be telling yourself what you want to hear...

Post by **Merlin** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:33 pm

Space1999 wrote:You guys are far too complacent; you seem to be telling yourself what you want to hear...

Rubbish.

Are you going to tell me that that any European government, at the command of a bunch of loony Eurocrats, are going to make all its drivers pay to have all cars fitted with this stuff? It would single handedly wipe out the 2nd hand car market as many cars would not be economically viable to swap over. Technically achieving retrofitting would be impossible, the cost of the infrastructure would be incalculable (every car in the UK connected to a satellite or road site system) and put at the tax payer.

Put this proposal down to a small department of the EC trying to justify their own jobs by coming up with some new initiative. Before I read that story I want even aware there was a European Commission Mobility and Transport Department

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:34 pm

space1999 wrote:The EU DOES have the power to introduce this proposal, should it so wish. That's why the UK minister did not say "we won't do it", he said he would fight it...

You guys are far too complacent; you seem to be telling yourself what you want to hear...

Is that why our steering wheel is on the left these days, our maximum allowable alchohol limit is being raised, why we have to carry a reflective jacket in the boot at all times and why our road signs are in kmh etc.?

Don't get me wrong, I understand your concerns and I don't mean that taking the mick in a nasty way or anything, but there's a massive amount of BS and game-playing made about how many things can/are set by europe.
They could not legislate to make all UK cars be fitted with this stuff and all cars in the UK be subject to automatic speed limters.

(I do think there will be voluntary insurance-driven speed limiters introduced within a few years though... Just hope the lude and the forum are still around then to say I told you so

)

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:43 pm

We're not being complacent. I think we're being realistic. What is there, 50million cars in the UK at the moment? How much is it likely to cost to fit satellite controlled automatic speed restrictors to all of these cars? It's insanity. I agree that they could potentially add such technology to new cars as they are being manufactured, but bankrupting the country/writing off millions upon millions of older cars won't happen. For the record, I don't buy into most conspiracy theories either. I don't believe everything I hear/read in the news. Most of it is nothing more than scaremongering propaganda and BS smear campaigns - see every issue of the Daily Mail, ever.

HGV speed limiters are not satellite controlled, they are physical speed limiters that don't have auto road sensing adjustment/awareness capabilities as far as I'm aware. The rest is just location monitoring software, the same as we all have in our phones already.

The only time I think automatically speed controlled cars are on our roads is when cars no longer need human driver input at all, when roads/cars are all powered by magnets (as I think someone already mentioned).

@Space1999, I raise my bet as you seem so concerned, how about £50,000 says our 'Ludes never get automatic speed limiters fitted. I will give you until 2050 to raise the cash

hahaha ...no offence to you or your worried mind at all mate, I just don't think it will be an issue.

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:54 pm

lol when has the European union worried about how much it will cost they don't care they can introduce a law anwalk away from it leaving others to sort out the how and why's.
Welcome to the European union friends we may not have to fit a system that's controlled by satelites but a lot of the tech is already here automated billing systems are already fitted to jdm cars how much of a leap is it to connect it to the ecu not a lot !!.
Will it happen who knows doesn't stop them making it a law with a time limit for compliance does it.

Space1999 · Post by **Space1999** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:58 pm

The exemptions we get for driving on the left and not having a warning triangle in the boot do not automatically exempt us from all other Europe-wide transport regulations. Just because we're not in the Euro doesn't mean we're not subject to EU financial services regulations, for example.

The worrying thing is that the EU's Mobility and Transport department has past form on attempting to bring retrospective legislation in to law; not least the classic car parts directive that came close to being enacted last year; us driving on the left wouldn't have got us out of that, either.

You guys are saying "it couldn't happen", but one day it might. We have a clear historical precedent, with the aforementioned classic car parts fiasco that the European Commission is gunning for us. If you continue to be complacent, don't be surprised when the worst happens.

As an aside, the only thing wrong (which no one has picked up on) is that 70MPH is 112km/h, and the EU thinks in km/h. So they'd be likely to set it at 120, to tie in with countries like France's current law. So it could be 75MPH, or suchlike. Still, there you go, no point in having a VTEC Prelude now is there?