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THE EU HAS said a provisional agreement has been reached with member states that will see new road safety technologies become mandatory on vehicles sold in Europe from 2022 onwards.
The new measures will see cars, for example, required to have features such as intelligent speed assistance, lane keeping technology and advanced emergency braking.
EU Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error. We can and must act to change this.
With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced. Many of the new features already exist, in particular in high–end vehicles. Now we raise the safety level across the board, and pave the way for connected and automated mobility of the future.
Last year, 148 people were killed on Irish roads, the RSA said.
Recent road safety measures introduced by the government here include new zero tolerance drink driving laws which sees an automatic ban for drivers on their first offence in this regard.
Other measures the EU wants to introduce include the reduction of dangerous blind spots on trucks and buses, and technology that warns the driver in case of drowsiness or distraction.
The European Commission said it hopes these measures will help to save over 25,000 lives and prevent at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038.
The new proposals were warmly welcomed by the European Transport Safety Council.
Its executive director Antonio Avenoso said: “There have only been a handful of moments in the last fifty years which could be described as big leaps forward for road safety in Europe. The mandatory introduction of the seat belt was one, and the first EU minimum crash safety standards, agreed in 1998 was another.
If last night’s agreement is given the formal green light, it will represent another of those moments, preventing 25,000 deaths within 15 years of coming into force.
The political agreement reached is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council, with a view to the introduction of the rules in 2022.
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Whilst, I somewhat welcome this, it is going to inflate the price of a car in an already over inflated priced Irish market
All cars should be limited to 80 klms an hour. This will greatly improve road safety for all.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: Can’t we all just walk. My commute is only 200km round trip. I could do it in a week easily
@Hastings Huckenstein: You need to live closer to your work. Thats a long commute its not goid for your health or the environment. Cycling would be far faster than walking.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: limiting to 8km/h would also be safer, it doesn’t mean it should be done
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: maybe those cyclists are going too fast as well, then? All bikes should be limited to 5 km/h. Makes as much sense as your suggestions here so far….
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: The accident rate would increase with the amount of people falling asleep with boredom on the motorways, don’t be daft! Motorway speed limit is 120kms, it works fine, accidents happen at any speed through drive error.
@Jumperoo: bicycles are not mechanically propelled, it would be very hard to limit their speed because of this fact.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: take of one peddle simple
@Tom Shine: That might work. But the cycling lobbying groups in ireland have a lot of say, i doubt taking one peddle of a bike would be allowed under health and safety reasons.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: why don’t we all just live closer to our work! So clever! You have some really good suggestions, you should be in government.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: stupid comment!
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: All of them
The Healy Rae are already forming a lobby group in the Dail..’What about all the people in rural ireland who are running late for Mass of a Sunday and have to speed in case the parish preesht notices?’
@James Wallace: Mind the deer
Will this be reflected in the insurance premium? I think not.
Sure there’s a new tax in there somehow ….
@Willy: I purpose a tax on every word you say, or type.
@Roy Dowling: No doubt a true blue..
Never miss a tax opportunity ;-)
The implication of ‘speed-limiting technology’ is misleading, when the contents of the proposed measurements state ‘intelligent speed assistant’.
In no way does this mean limiting the top speeds of cars, as the title leads to suggest. Ever hear of adaptive cruise control? Yeah, that intelligent speed assistant technology present in higher end cars (in which the idea of the proposal is to introduce this as standard on all cars). Shabby journalism, yet again.
Oh watch the Mercedes and BMW high end fast car sales plummet or the lobby groups of these big boys put pressure on EU
@Sean taoiseach: I think you’ll find most cars can pass most speed limits anyway.
@Sean taoiseach: most high end German cars already have their speed electronically limited.
@Sean taoiseach: Negative, the race is on for the EV market. This is a good fit technologically for all manufacturers.
@Sean taoiseach: pretty sure they likes of Audi (VAG) are already limited, 155MPH all be it, nothing a man with a computer can’t bypass anyways!
@Ted Logan: really? The autobahn doesn’t have a speed limit so how does that work?
@Ryan Heffernan: Wow! Limited all the way down to155 MPH! That’s really going to save lives!
@Jim Buckley Barrett: yes really, very easily bypassed, all Jap imports are limited to 180kph, also easily bypassed
@Sean taoiseach: the EU is an undemocratic institution …. lobbying doesn’t matter for sh*t.
Great news this will only make the EU even more unpopular especially in countries like Italy . The death of the EU can’t come quick enough .
@John Smith: what is wrong here? This is for the benefit of us all … also the headline is wrong …
@John Kelly: Its an attack on our freedom . What’s next what type of food we can eat . How much alcohol can be put into a bootle of beer . Don’t remember voting for any of these people that run the EU .
@John Smith: road safety an attack on our freedom .. now that does not make sense .. unregulated road usage would be absolute carnage… you are speculating on the rest .. I for one wouldn’t like rat poison in food which is what you are promoting ..
@John Smith: I’m sure some eejits made the same argument about the mandatory introduction of seatbelts
@John Kelly: when looking at the maths the focus and narrative on road use is squewed.
2 billion individual road journeys per annum. 149 fatalities. Such microscopic figures you couldn’t't manipulate. The only reason they were down last year was a reduction in passenger numbers. Again a reflection of pure chance.
All this EU stuff is pure control of masses since religion doesn’t cut it anymore.
@John Smith: driving a car is not a right, it’s a privilege that must be earned. If you want to drive one, you follow the rules.
@John Smith: You will get another chance to vote in a few months.
I agree with speed limiters. We have to legislate for the lowest common denominator in society. Unfortunately some geniuses can’t drive according to the law. So when they take somebody out its probably not just themselves they kill or maim. If it saves one life, its worth it.
@Martin Critten: Correct, it’s all about control.
@Michael O’Neill: So if the EU said let’s reduce the numbers of hrs people can drive there cars each day because this will reduce deaths on the road and they be right . Or they could say let’s reduce the amount of sugar or fat in food cause this will reduce deaths and they be right on that too. Do you want to live in a straight jacket society .
@John Smith: No. I have this thing called common sense. It’s worth trying out someone.
@John Smith: Sure we could use the same idiotic arguments against seat belts. How dare I be told to wear one. What a straight jacket society.
@James Wallace: Stupid comment, plenty of other rules out there too..
Plus rules keep changing with evey snowflake generation.
Price of cars to go up after 2022 so.
And this is why the UK are right to leave. Can’t see the Germans loving this idea. ..
@Harry Trafford: you didn’t read the full article obviously.. the headline is also wrong
@Harry Trafford: read the article Henry.. the headline is wrong
So…. Lower insurance premiums
@Brendan Brennan: LOL, good one. You should consider doing stand up.
The EU says.. Right!!
Isn’t this going to cause more accidents? What happens if you are overtaking and need more power but then the limiter fights you?
@Paraic: That’s when you know you shouldn’t have overtook.
@Stephen Devlin: Or needed unrestricted power.
Not before time that these measures be introduced regarding speed. It’s a killer. Why create vehicles in the first place that can speed by 80 % over the legal LIMIT. Its time to introduce the technology that the vehicle cannot go over the maximum speed limit of 120 km and be able to prove and show history of speeding like discs that the lorries have to produce when stopped by Gardaí..
@C_O’S: just think of all that revenue the gov will loose on issuing speeding tickets.
@keano:
Ah but as all but the dumbest in society know, the money saved in enforcement would be far more than that lost in fines.
@keano: and the tax on the extra fuel that has to be burnt to hit those speeds
@keano: as keeps being pointed out, there is a net cost to the state in implementing speed checks. So the state would save money if they needed fewer of them.
@C_O’S: Vechile sare used on private roads and propety too, people go to track days etc.
Cant see Ferrari or other supercar makers liking this ..
@keano: they’ll prob limit the cars to 101kmph so they’ll still catch ‘speeders’
@C_O’S: speed is not the killer. People don’t die because of speed. Their deaths and injuries are caused because they have decided to use it inappropriately . There’s always gonna be people who can’t drive safely even under the speed limit.
Squeeze more money out of the people of Europe….. FFS….
@windbag: how … did u read the article ?
@John Kelly: yes I read the article…. put new technology into cars … there not going to put it in for Free … wake up ..
Wouldn’t it be better to install Dashcam in all cars?
This will be seen as a draconian measure by the Brexit fraternity. How dare the EU…
@iohanx: shows how misguided they are
At least, you won’t be able to break the speed limit as the car will have made that decision for you, and everyone else will be in the same boat or car. Next they’ll invent cars that can drive themselves…
I have always thought it odd that we can buy cars that can do over 200kph when it’s illegal to do more than 120.
Signage would need to be up to scratch. The sign on my local road changed from 60 to “Slow” recently. Car won’t read it anymore. Back when the speed limit was set o. The GPS, it was often inaccurate, compared to signage and any temporary roadworks with applied speed limits wouldn’t have been on the map.
Cant find fault with any of this .. my eldest will be 21 .. hopefully this will keep him safe on the road .. how bad is that … lots of autonomous cars coming in any case .. the car will do the driving .. also we wont own cars we will pay for a plan like our mobile phones .. these rules will implement automatically with new technology ..
Nanny state rubbish……
The Autobahn will become redundant…probably one of the few places you can drive a car at near top speed…never did understand why civilian cars could top 200 a bit like American gun laws, just silly! (too dangerous for the average person to drive above certain speeds)
A few speed cameras on the overhead signage on the motorway, M50 & M3 in particular might help as well.That might slow traffic or get the speeder’s to cop on a little.
@Hugh Mc Donnell: They’d be unnecessary if cars were unable to go over the speed limit. I can’t imagine there are many people who would genuinely prefer to be fined for going 5km/h over the limit to being unable to do so.
You could put all the gadgets, gizmos and safety features into a vehical but you cant eliminate human attention issues or stupidity
@Sinead Merrigan: not eliminare but reduce is the focus of this policy. An alarm when your veering out of your lane, an alarm when you’re falling asleep, surely they can only be good things?
Enforce the Rules Of The Road. That would make the roads safer. None of this Speed Limiting Bullshit. We already live in a Nanny State, let’s not make it any more Nanny then it already is.
@Joey Tribbiani: This would literally enforce the rules of the road. What you apparently prefer is people sometimes being observed breaking the rules of the road and punished. It’s not clear to me why your way is better.
“File photo..M50”…..with an N7 signpost in the picture
This will be yet another excuse for insurers to gouge those of us who can’t afford to change our car every year.
Limiting the low end speed is not the end of the world but what about on a country road where someone is plodding along in a tractor / trailer set up, and you’re not used to the override nature of the throttle, you could find yourself distracted or put in danger by the limiter if you tried to overtake
Secondly- the Garda will need to find a new revenue stream…no more speeding fines ? The penalty points and gosafe contracts will he redundant
In an Irish context, we have probably the worst driver training and examination regime in Europe if not the developed world. We happily allow unlicensed and untrained drivers on our roads. Enforcement of our road traffic laws is laughable and the actual state of our roads and road signage is a joke. Let’s fix these things first and see what the result is before taking the nuclear option.
@Larry Smierciak: There’s no reason these things can’t be done simultaneously. It’s also not clear why you think that making it easier for drivers to obey existing laws is the “nuclear option.”
@Derek Walsh Ⓥ: Do you hear yourself or what, i take it your a cyclist that wants the roads for himself.. Bad Driving is a huge issue in this country, and your solution is to try and stop them from going over a limit rather than teach them to drive properly..
@Larry Smierciak: I always thought it funny that as a L driver you’re forbidden from driving on a motor way. Yet once you pass your test you’re automatically qualified to do so, even though you’ve probably never been instructed in lane discipline and if you’ve been following the rules haven’t driven faster than 60 or 80 kph before
@Gowon Geter: No, I made it quite clear that I’m in favour of both. I’d favour random re-testing of drivers and harsher penalties for lawbreakers as well as technological improvements in safety.
Ha ha boy drivers!
The only thing more stupid than this is the amount of sheeple on here who agree with it. I wonder what else they need the EU to tell them how to do “correctly”…
I dont disagree with it, why have a car that does 150mph when there isnt a road to do it on… Although I think we should be looking at banning private sale diesels by 2020, but noooo that would upset the big money car companies and we cant do that but this is fine because its new bolt on tech they can charge more for..
@MickN: FFS sake, people drive on private propery/roads , people go to track days etc
@Gowon Geter: What private roads are fit to do 150mph on, go on enlighten me list them? Track days should be track cars with the proper safety equipment
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