IN THE NEWS
ALL NEW UK CARS TO HAVE SPEED LIMITERS BY 2022 UNDER EU PLANS
All new cars sold in the UK and Europe are to be fitted with devices to automati- cally stop drivers exceeding
the vehicle. Safety campaigners described the move as one of
the
speed limit under sweeping changes to vehicle safety rules that the EU has provisionally agreed. Although Britain may no longer be part of the EU when the rules come into effect, the UK regu- lator, the Vehicle Certification Agen- cy, has said it will mirror safety stan- dards for vehicles in the UK. According to the Guardian, the speed limiter is one of a range of safety fea- tures to be made mandatory
the from
2022, along with automated emer- gency
braking,
electronic data re- corders and im- proved
visibility
built into lorries for drivers to see vul- nerable cyclists and pedestrians around
biggest leaps for- ward in 50 years and said it could save 25,000 lives by 2037. The package of measures needs to be ratified by the European Parlia- ment, which is likely by September. The speed limiter device, called intelli- gent speed assist- ance (ISA), uses GPS data and sign recognition cameras to detect speed lim- its where the car is travelling, and then will sound a warning and automatically slow the vehicle down if it is exceed- ing the limit. However, drivers will be able to override the device simply by pushing hard on the accelerator, reassur- ing some motoring groups that have argued that in cer- tain situations – such as when trying
to swiftly overtake a vehicle in front – speeding up could be safer. Antonio Avenoso, executive director of
the European
Transport Safety Council, said: “There have only been a handful of moments in the last 50 years which could be described as big leaps forward for road safety
in
Europe. The manda- tory introduction of the seat belt was one, and the first EU minimum crash safe- ty standards, agreed in 1998, was another. “If last night’s agree- ment is given the formal green light, it will represent anoth- er of those mo- ments, preventing 25,000 deaths with- in 15 years of coming into force.” Volvo recently be- came
the
the speed limit everywhere bar Ger- man autobahns. Other measures agreed by the EU include making data recorders mandatory to
help inves-
tigate vehicle crash- es and assist re- search into in- creased safety. An- ther feature already
standard in many new cars, a lane departure warning system, will become obligatory. The road safety charity Brake called it a “landmark day”. Joshua Harris, direc- tor of campaigns for Brake, said: “These lifesaving measures come at a vital time,
with road safety in a concerning period of stagnation
with
more than 70 people still being killed or seriously injured on British roads every day. The government must commit
to
adopting these life- saving regulations, no matter what hap- pens with Brexit.”
POLICE DETECTORS TO WARN MOBILE PHONE-USING DRIVERS
first
manufacturer to an- nounce it would limit the speed of all its new cars, albeit to 112mph – above
WARNING: NEW DVLA CAR TAX REFUND SCAM
Criminals are target- ing British motorists with yet another DVLA car tax scam. The Express reports that car tax scams are common in Britain with crooks pretending to be the motoring
body
often offering driv- ers a refund for an overpayment in car tax or using threat-
74
ening language to entice motorists to hand over
their
information. But the DVLA said that it will never send emails or text messages that ask you to confirm your personal details or payment
informa-
tion, such as for a vehicle tax refund. The motoring body
said: “If you get any- thing like this, don’t open any links and delete the email or text immediately.” Often these scams use branding which looks official,
for
example the same black white and blue colour scheme fea- tured on the DVLA website and even the
gov.uk logo.
Mobile phone detec- tors are to be used by police to find drivers using de- vices at the wheel. The Thames Valley and Hampshire forces are rolling out the technology to show when motorists are using their phones. According to BBC News, a sign will flash at the driver telling them to stop using their mobile - but the detectors cannot tell if it is a driver or passenger using the phone. The detectors are the first of their kind to be used by police in the UK though a similar system has been tried by coun- cils The technology will not be used as an “enforcement tool”, the forces said, but was instead aimed at educating motor- ists and identifying offending “hotspots”. Thames
Valley
Police and Hamp- shire Constabulary have developed the
technology with Westcotec Ltd. The system, which can- not record footage, was initially tested in Norfolk last year. The detector picks up 2G, 3G and 4G signals and will therefore flash to alert people in cars who are using phones to call, text or data. If people are using a Bluetooth hands- free device,
the
detector will recog- nise this and not flash. The technology can- not distinguish if a passenger or a driv- er of a vehicle is using a phone and so the sign will be activated regardless of who is using the mobile. The forces say the two detectors, which cost £6,000 each, will be located on the A34 in Oxford- shire but will be posted at different locations through- out
the Thames Valley and Hampshire
to start - but more could be rolled out. Drivers caught using a mobile phone while driving are currently fined £200 and given six points on their licence. Matt Barber, deputy police and crime commissioner
for
Thames Valley, said the system was “not foolproof”, but ad- ded the police needed to “make it as socially unac- ceptable to use your mobile whilst driv- ing as it is to drink and drive”. PC Liz Johnson, a roads safety officer, said research sug- gested a driver was four times more like- ly to crash if they were using a phone and twice as likely to be involved in a fatal collision when tex- ting compared with drink-driving. “It is vital that peo- ple take notice and stop using their mobile
phones
whilst driving,” she added.
MAY 2019
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