KNOW YOUR RIGHTS Which method used will be down to the manufacturer. CHANGES TO THE LAW
Over the last couple of months there have been three new major laws announced:
• the mandatory requirement for new vehicles to have speed limiters fitted;
• the introduction of a new offence of ‘causing death by dangerous cycling’, and
• a brand-new Act allowing the introduction of autonomous vehicles.
In this month’s edition we examine those laws and how they could affect drivers in the UK. We have concentrated this article on the laws themselves and legal boundaries surrounding them, rather than why they were introduced or whether they will work. Our concern is always going to be to ensure that professional drivers stay on the right side of the law.
SPEED LIMITERS
From 7 July 2024 all new vehicles sold will need to have speed limiters installed. The law has been introduced further to an EU law enacted in 2022. The requirements came into force after various publications and research showed that exceeding the speed limit contributed to a significant proportion of road traffic accidents. The EU Commission believes that the introduction of limiters may reduce deaths by up to a third.
This new law is for newly manufactured cars and all new vehicles not yet sold. So any new vehicle sold on or after this date must have a limiter fitted – including cars currently sitting on forecourts (which therefore may have to be retrospectively fitted).
It does not apply to old/current vehicles. If any person wants to sell their car, there will be no legal requirement to get it fitted with a limiter before sale.
The limiters themselves work with GPS data to auto- matically find the speed limit on a road and then either:
• automatically reduce the speed of the car;
• increase pressure on the accelerator to make it harder to accelerate; or
•warn drivers with a symbol / noise when they are exceeding the limit.
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The GPS data will automatically update with new speed limits but there is always the risk that roadworks or gantries will not be picked up and the vehicle may not recognise a temporarily reduced speed limit.
Currently there is no defence in law for a driver to say they didn’t realise they were speeding because the GPS system didn’t pick up roadworks, so drivers will always still have to stay aware of the speed limit and reduce their speed accordingly.
While you cannot remove a speed limiter, they can be overridden either manually through the car’s on-board computer, or by pressing the accelerator hard to give the car a sudden burst of speed. The latter is required under safety provisions to allow the driver control to remove themselves from danger if necessary.
But the law is for manufacturers – not drivers – so there is no law against switching them off (although the limiters will automatically be switched on every time the car is restarted).
CAUSING DEATH BY DANGEROUS CYCLING
Currently, cyclists may only be prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act 1988 for a limited number of offences such as dangerous cycling, careless cycling and cycling whilst under the influence of drink/drugs. But these offences carry fines only - no prison time, no unpaid work, no disqualifications.
On very rare occasions, cyclists who have caused serious injury or death have been prosecuted under general criminal laws of GBH or manslaughter, but those laws rarely fit the offence and so are more complicated to prosecute.
Hence the introduction of three new offences; causing death by dangerous cycling, causing serious injury by dangerous cycling and causing death by careless cycling. These three almost identically mirror the offences for which drivers can be prosecuted.
Causing death by dangerous or careless cycling will carry maximum sentences of 14 years and five years in
JUNE 2024 PHTM
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