Speed cameras

[goldy]

I have no problem with a speed limiter I use mine all the time

I get quite a few false speed limit readings from road signs which makes the automatic speed limiter unreliable. For example, when I pass a side road that has a different speed limit to the road I’m on. Also, when leaving a road with a 20mph limit to join one that’s 30mph, there’s nothing to tell the car that the speed limit has changed, so it stays on 20mph.

There’s a crossroad near my house where I turn right onto a 30mph road, but the road straight ahead is 20mph. Every single time I use that junction, my car reads the 20mph sign and incorrectly thinks that’s the speed limit for the road I’m driving on. The next time I use my car, It will continue to believe the speed limit is 20mph until I drive past a road sign showing 40mph, or more.

The other common problem with Intelligent Speed Assist systems is when a car’s camera reads the sign on the back of a lorry from the EU and adjusts the speed limiter accordingly.

The best use I’ve found for the speed limiter is going through roadworks on the motorway.

Turn the auto sign recognition off in centre display.

[Deleted User 3359]

I gave up using the speed limiter within 3 months CC works on the B4 at keeping speed to whatever is set... It even works on the 20mph in our village

[KeithR56]

Turn the auto sign recognition off in centre display.

Or just not use the speed limiter? I think you missed the point of my post goldy. Automatic speed limiters are now being fitted to all cars because at some point in the future we will all be obliged to use them at all times (a bit like when seatbelts were introduced). What I was trying to say is that although the hardware and software is now fitted, the intelligent speed systems are unreliable and impractical. Speed limit info from map data (if available) is not reliable yet either.

I think for now I will continue to read road signs with my eyes and drive accordingly. Then the only speed limiter I need is my right foot.

[Chris John]

Turn the auto sign recognition off in centre display.

Or just not use the speed limiter? I think you missed the point of my post goldy. Automatic speed limiters are now being fitted to all cars because at some point in the future we will all be obliged to use them at all times (a bit like when seatbelts were introduced). What I was trying to say is that although the hardware and software is now fitted, the intelligent speed systems are unreliable and impractical. Speed limit info from map data (if available) is not reliable yet either.

I think for now I will continue to read road signs with my eyes and drive accordingly. Then the only speed limiter I need is my right foot.

From July all newly launched cars have to have them fitted, they can be switched off but will switch back on again when you start the car. I’ve not seen anything about it being the law not to use them. If that’s the case I guess they won’t switch off

[Krystof]

Apparently the regulation will be reviewed in December 2025 to assess how effective it's been. Inevitably, it will be found to have been ineffective, because as several others have pointed out here, the systems are nowhere near good enough yet.

One thing is that the sensors get tricked by speed signs on neighbouring roads or on the back of trucks, but also some countries don't generally use signs (like the black diagonal line through a white circle) to cancel the previous speed limit.

For example, here (in the Czech Republic), a signposted speed limit only lasts until the next junction, after which everything reverts to the default speed limit unless a limit is signposted again (the default is 50 km/h in towns, 90 outside towns, 130 on motorways). So you can be driving on a rural road and a 70 limit is posted in advance of a junction for safety, but then as soon as you pass through the junction, the limit goes back to the standard 90 again. Of course the road sign recognition system doesn't know that, so it flashes "70" at you for several seconds when the limit's actually 90. That's mildly irritating, but for it to take some physical action to reduce your speed would be hugely irritating, distracting, and in some situations actively dangerous.

Similarly, the change between the 50 and 90 limits isn't signposted with a number here, it's just the sign with the name of the town that marks the beginning of the 50 limit, and then when you leave the town it's the same sign with a red line through it, meaning that the limit goes back up to 90. Unless a car has a satnav integrated with its speed limiter, it doesn't recognize any of that. And even if the satnav is fully integrated, the limits it shows are often inaccurate.

Perhaps the speed limiter works better in countries with different signage systems - maybe in the UK, I don't know. But certainly here, it's utterly useless. All in all, I think it'll just be one more thing for people to switch off every time they start the car.

[Moss]

Turn the auto sign recognition off in centre display.

Or just not use the speed limiter? I think you missed the point of my post goldy. Automatic speed limiters are now being fitted to all cars because at some point in the future we will all be obliged to use them at all times (a bit like when seatbelts were introduced). What I was trying to say is that although the hardware and software is now fitted, the intelligent speed systems are unreliable and impractical. Speed limit info from map data (if available) is not reliable yet either.

I think for now I will continue to read road signs with my eyes and drive accordingly. Then the only speed limiter I need is my right foot.

From July all newly launched cars have to have them fitted, they can be switched off but will switch back on again when you start the car. I’ve not seen anything about it being the law not to use them. If that’s the case I guess they won’t switch off

Even with the automatic speed limiter becoming mandatory, it is absolutely necessary for safety reasons that it can be switched off by the driver. If not, and given the present poor technology of the Volvo automatic speed limiter system, the use of any Volvo car (as no doubt many other cars) on public roads would be far too dangerous.

[m@rk]

All Volvos already have this installed. Indeed many cars do and have done for a couple of years now. This has nothing to do with the speed limiter function that can operate alongside the cruise control

The "limiter" being mandated does not have to automatically slow the car down. It can simply display a warning or a "nag screen" as many have called it.

So if you are driving at say 31mph in a 30mph limit, you may see a small 30mph speed limit sign on your dash (inside the speedo) that flashes if you exceed the speed. THAT is the system being mandated (for now) and I'm sure many of you will now recall seeing this confirming this "limiter" is already on your car and active

[Moss]

All Volvos already have this installed. Indeed many cars do and have done for a couple of years now. This has nothing to do with the speed limiter function that can operate alongside the cruise control

The "limiter" being mandated does not have to automatically slow the car down. It can simply display a warning or a "nag screen" as many have called it.

So if you are driving at say 31mph in a 30mph limit, you may see a small 30mph speed limit sign on your dash (inside the speedo) that flashes if you exceed the speed. THAT is the system being mandated (for now) and I'm sure many of you will now recall seeing this confirming this "limiter" is already on your car and active

You're right, but... the present system of simply displaying a warning screen isn’t a « limiter » and has nothing to do with the automatic speed limiter I am talking about.

You talk about the system being mandatory « for now », I am talking about the automatic speed limiters mentioned by KeithR56 in his post as « at some point in the future being obliged to use at all times ».

[m@rk]

All Volvos already have this installed. Indeed many cars do and have done for a couple of years now. This has nothing to do with the speed limiter function that can operate alongside the cruise control

The "limiter" being mandated does not have to automatically slow the car down. It can simply display a warning or a "nag screen" as many have called it.

So if you are driving at say 31mph in a 30mph limit, you may see a small 30mph speed limit sign on your dash (inside the speedo) that flashes if you exceed the speed. THAT is the system being mandated (for now) and I'm sure many of you will now recall seeing this confirming this "limiter" is already on your car and active

You're right, but... the present system of simply displaying a warning screen isn’t a « limiter » and has nothing to do with the automatic speed limiter I am talking about.

You talk about the system being mandatory « for now », I am talking about the automatic speed limiters mentioned by KeithR56 in his post as « at some point in the future being obliged to use at all times ».

It's the same legislation. For now, partly because if the limitations of the technology mentioned, there is no requirement to physically slow down the car if it is speeding so this is as far as the technology can be trusted (and thus mandated) right now.

In the future, I think we can expect the legislation to be updated so that it does however it may be some time before any change is made and as we know, the best laid plans can change due to political views etc

Is it a limiter? No but then again, whilst the media are using the word limiter all over the place, the reality and thus the legislation does not use the word limiter. The only people using that word are the media looking for a headline and those trying to spread FUD which of course then gets spread incorrectly all over the internet and forums.

You may have noticed, the subject of speeding all gets rather emotive on car related forums

[KeithR56]

Just to clarify: The Automatic Speed Limiter fitted on my XC40 is controlled by the road speed limit, not by the driver. If I have it turned on and drive past a 30mph road sign, the speed limiter automatically changes to 30mph and the car won’t go above that speed. From the steering wheel, I only have the option to change the limiter by +/- 5mph, or switch it off altogether.

Road sign recognition and speed limiters that the driver sets manually have been around for years, but the two things working together is relatively new. It’s called Intelligent Speed Assistance and has been mandatory on all new cars in the EU and UK since 6th July this year. It is not yet mandatory for the driver to use it and probably won’t be for quite a while.

Illustration from Autocar.co.uk