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ABDSpeed Limiters (ISA)

ISA Must Never Be Considered Unless UK Speed Limits Are Based On Science And Set By Experts

By 6th July 20225 Comments

All new cars sold in the EU must by law now be fitted with ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaptation) which will automatically adjust the speed of cars to limits. Although we have left the EU, the UK government is highly likely to implement this EU ruling for cars sold in the UK

The ABD have grave concerns that with current UK ‘anti science’ speed limit setting, some vehicles automatically adjusting to limits will cause issues such as bunching, dangerous overtakes and even ‘rear ending’ crashes. There is also danger from those occasions when temporary acceleration is needed to get out of a dangerous situation. We are starting to hear examples of ISA incorrectly reading speed limit signs. The taking away of control from drivers is itself potentially dangerous.

The ABD calls upon our Transport Minister to consider this if and when applying such a law in the UK – and for use of ISA to be optional – as is Cruise Control.

ABD spokesman Ian Taylor explains: “Speed limits were initially designed to be set at the maximum safe speed for the road. We used scientifically proven methodology to set them at levels that would maximise safety (85th percentile). If such regulations were still in place ISA would not cause so many issues. Most drivers would naturally be below the limit. Sadly the UK no longer ‘follows the science’ on limits. They are now set by unqualified local and national politicians, often against the advice of police experts to pander to local equally unqualified campaigners. ISA cars could become mobile road blocks travelling below the speed of naturally free flowing traffic in badly set limit areas and suddenly slowing unexpectedly. The number of speed limiters already in use in commercial vehicles has started demonstrating this. The ABD calls for a ‘return to science’ so that we have properly safety maximising limits, restoring them to the useful road safety tool they are supposed to be before ISA is even considered, to avoid danger being caused”.

Ends

5 Comments

  • K. Hayman says:

    This is part of the wider ‘speed is the problem’ mantra based on anti-motoring dogma and convenient government acceptance to deflect from the real road safety issues. Government and Police authorities passionately ignore road traffic incident data in favour of collecting fine revenue and making the lives of those who clean up the mess easier. It is a national scandal that ‘WE’ ignore no-brainer ways to reduce accidents because the public are gullible and have been conditioned to believe that accidents are all down to speeding or excess speed. Govt stats telling the truth are routinely ignored. Note how people like me raising this issue has resulted in the start of a campaign by three Police forces that claims majority RTCs are due to speeding.
    The limiters proposed are the wrong solution to RTCs. EU beaurocrats following crazy dogma supported by UK civil servants totally out of control. We’re supposed to have left the EU………..

  • Bernard king says:

    If the transport secretary Grant Shapps,he will not get rid of this.

  • Chris Cowell says:

    Our car has an advisory speed limit indication derived from a camera. It frequently reads the 50moh signs on the backs of lorries, and interprets them as a limit on a motorway. I have also known it read a 20mph sign across a cross roads, and despite the fact that I turned right, onto a higher limit road it indicated that the limit was 20mph.

  • Suzie Akers Smith says:

    You claim.
    ISA Must Never Be Considered Unless UK Speed Limits Are Based On Science And Set By Experts.

    Where was the science when the speed limits were set almost 100 years ago?
    If they were set by ‘science’ they would have been set at 20mph on local roads.
    5 people are killed every day, with drivers of vehicles being culpable.
    Surely you would want the death rate to reduce? Lowering traffic speed makes our roads safer, that is just physics.

    • Dr David Palmer says:

      If what you say is true (*) then why stop at 20 mph? Why not 10 mph? or even better, 4 mph, with a man with a red flag walking in front?

      (*) The reality is that independent studies show that 20 mph speed limits have no effect on fatalities – but do increase pollution, congestion and lengthen journey times. “Twenty’s Too Slow”.

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