Ask Honest John Question of the Week: Will all new cars have speed limiters fitted from June this year?

Dear Honest John,

"I have seen a few headlines stating that all cars sold from June this year will have so called speed limiters fitted. Are you able to explain what these are, and how they will work in practice?"

- TR

Dear TR,

This subject has been sensationalised by some areas of the media to give a Big Brother mentality but it is, in part, correct. All cars sold from June 2024 will have the capacity for speeds to be electronically limited, but the reality is that many cars already have this feature.

Usually called Intelligent Speed Assist, the general principle is that it can detect the posted speed limit and in the event that the car is travelling above this limit, it will either warn the driver or slow the vehicle down automatically, depending on the exact system fitted to the vehicle.

The important points to note are that this is not a system which allows an external source to regulate the speed of a vehicle, so it is not possible for the government or other regulatory body to control the speed of a vehicle. The EU regulations also stipulate that the driver has the option to turn the system off, and also even if the system is switched on that they have the ability to override the system.

You can read the regulations in more detail but the goal is to alert and discourage drivers from exceeding the posted speed limit. These systems will not prevent a driver from exceeding the speed limit should they choose to do so.