Mandatory safety rules introduced across the European Union at the weekend are likely to see the same technology introduced in Great Britain, the RAC has said.
From Sunday (7 July) all new vehicles sold in the EU, as well as in Northern Ireland, will require Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), a system that automatically restricts a vehicle’s speed.
ISA, along with Automatic Emergency Braking, is one of the vehicle safety standards cited in a Manifesto for Road Safety published in May by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) with the support of 33 organisations.
The RAC said that although the mandate does not apply in Great Britian, it is very likely that most new cars will be affected, because manufacturers are unlikely to modify new vehicle designs for the market here in Britain.
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 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.’
ISA uses a combination of GPS tracking data, satellite navigation, and information on speed limits of that roads that the vehicle is currently on. If the driver is travelling over the speed limit, the system can reduce engine power until the speed drops to the limit.
While previous regulations allowed drivers to turn the speed limiter off, ISA will be enabled when the engine is switch back on, meaning that it cannot be permanently disabled in new cars.
Mr Dennis added: ‘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.’
