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Volvo To Impose 112mph Speed Limit On All New Cars From 2020 (theguardian.com)
Volvo will limit the top speed to 112mph on all its new cars from 2020 in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents. "The cap will prevent drivers from accelerating to the top speeds of up to 155mph many Volvos can reach," reports The Guardian. From the report: Volvo is believed to be the first carmaker to install the cap across its entire range. Police vehicles will be exempt. Similar technology has been installed on several high-performance cars in Germany, but at a much higher speed limit. The general speed limit for motorways in EU member states is 75-80mph (120-130km/h). Germany does not have a general cap for motorways but recommends a speed of up to 80mph. Speeding remained one of the main contributors to road deaths, Volvo said, along with drug and drink intoxication and mobile phone use. Volvo is also exploring how geofencing -- a virtual geographic boundary defined by GPS technology -- can be used to automatically limit speeds around schools and hospitals. Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo's president and chief executive, said: "While a speed limitation is not a cure-all, it's worth doing if we can even save one life. We want to start a conversation about whether carmakers have the right or maybe even an obligation to install technology in cars that changes their driver's behavior."
Volvo can put cheaper tires on their cars from the factory to avoid liability. 112 mph = 180km/h. I suspect this will be quietly removable with the proper scan software, same as many GM cars are.
Actually I'd like a mode where it essentially limited to the speed limit unless I chose to exceed it for lets say overtaking. I have this almost in my current car instead of cruise control a speed limit is set. It only needs to follow the GPS defined speed limits to be more useful.
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
... please do not think German drivers only need to fulfil the same requirements, that people in the US need to before they are allowed on to drive on the roads.
In Germany we have extensive schooling, many hours of practical training, and strict driving test that you are expected to fail at the slightest misstep. And it's *expensive*. You usually pay a couple of *thousand* bucks for the whole thing.
On the streets, every driver *expects* you to drive properly. With far more rules. (Like not overtaking on the right lane.)
And you see this. Everything flows far more elegantly. People are skilled and proud of it.
Of course since alcohol is our national dish, you will still have morons driving drunk and messing up on weekend nights and the like. But they only need to be caught once, and their license is *gone*. (They have to take the "idiot test" to get it back. Which is not much better than starting from scratch, afaik.)
That is why we don't have speed limits for about 50% of the highway (= Autobahn). We can handle it!
(I recommend taking the additional lessons for avoiding crashes. You get to learn ice drifting and other cool maneuvers like a pro. Just in case.)
I wish the US also had a culture of not expecting everyone to be a moron until they are. It feels lime that attitude is the main breeding ground for morons in the first place.
Don't make assumptions about other countries. I also had to take extensive driver's ed classes, many hours of practical driving, and a strict driving test. And we have similar punishment for DUIs.
I've been to Germany and the driving there wasn't any different.
When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980, one of the survivors had been camping near the mountain, saw the eruption, and got into his car. He reported he was flooring it at 100 mph down the road ahead of the pyroclastic flow, and passed another car doing 75 mph. He survived. The couple in the 75 mph car died.
So if your standard is saving a single life, then artificially limiting the top speed can cost lives too.
The popular Ford Falcon in Australia was limited to 180km/hr also, as an easy "fix" to a tailshaft problem. (rear-wheel-drive 4-litre engine)
Of course, nobody cared, as there are no roads in Australia capable of that speed, even if you could afford the fuel bills. ]
It saves money on tyres too, as they don't need to be rated as high.
I can't get over that last sentence, limiting the speed to 112 means they're trying to save money on brakes and tires, so f them? Overreact much?
"You don't need it, therefore you shouldn't have it" is the most authoritarian argument I've ever heard. By that logic, you can ban just about anything.
TV? Banned. Go spend that time being productive.
Meat? Banned. Eat rice and beans.
Sex? For procreation only.
I thought that way as well, but a recent study in the US found that gunshot victims brought to the nearest hospital by private car tended to survive better than those that waited for an ambulance. There are a few types of critical injuries where faster surgery really does outweigh the damage done by a violent, fast car ride to the hospital. Apparently leaking from large holes in you is one of those.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor