OT: Speed limiters on cars

Possible in practice.

It's obvious that it isn't lawful to drive a motor vehicle whose speedo isn't working, so my question would and could not be about that.

That would be a different question.

My question was whether it is possible (for anyone, not necessarily everyone) to *safely* drive a motor vehicle whose speedometer has stopped working, as it might, for instance, between two motorway junctions fifteen miles apart.

Yes. That fact underpins my question. It is the very reasin for it.

That still doesn't address the issue of whether the vehicle may be driven safely in such circumstances.

So what is the answer?

Is it possible to drive safely without knowing the exact speed of the vehicle and having to rely upon one's estimate of it?

No. The car is usually parked up for weeks without use and it has always started up. The charger has been used many a time to stop the battery going flat.

With the caveat "it depends", I would say yes.

Practicing timed laps around a track without a speedo is good training.

I would presume that elite armed forces may need the skill too.

I would be much less confident in fog - that really ****s up speed and distance perception.

I am referring to legal, not actual. AFAIAA the law in the UK requires that a driver does not exceed the stated speed limit. Not that they "drive safely regardless of the limit".

Although there was someone that brain dead on my SAC who came within about five seconds of being asked to leave and return to the court to let them know they got it wrong. After being told that it would certain be a first in any UK court ever, they decided not to pursue that line of reasoning.

As an aside, I found myself driving for over 2 miles today inside a 20mph zone. As I say, I look forward to when they are covered by average speed cameras.

Did you turn yourself in for careless driving or for reckless driving?

But JNugent was clearly referring to actual, not legal.

And it is perfectly possible to do that without a functioning speedo.

But JNugent was clearly asking about whether it is safe to drive without a functioning speedo. Of course it is.

Easily.

First, if you are used to the car, you could just drive using the tacho

- for instance, my tacho and speedo needle exactly follow each other, at the same angle, if I am in 4th gear. I know the revs for 70 in 5th and, in a car park, idling, feet off the pedals, in second, gives 10 mph.

Second, the speed limit is purely a legal construct and drivers are supposed to drive at a speed that is safe for the road, the vehicle and the conditions ... and that speed may be well below the speed limit. So drivers are expected to use their experience and judgement to ensure that their speed is safe, regardless of what it actually is.

That is a different matter. A faulty speedo could cause you to break the speed limit, without knowing, but your phone or satnav's GPS could give you your speed anyway. However, it also would likely mean that the odometer was not recording the miles. No-one is going to care about 10 or 20 miles missing from the total, but not fixing a speedo for a couple of years could drastically affect the resale value of the vehicle.

There should be no 20 mph zones that extend that far. The evidence has shown that long section of 20 increase the accident rate, especially for pedestrians and they should only be used for specific, short sections, such a outside a school.

Not sure that?s correct.

If a vehicle has a speedometer then it must work. If it was never fitted with one I don?t believe there is any legal obligation to fit one.

Of course the number of vehicles without speedometers is undoubtably tiny and I suspect it?s probably only vehicles mainly designed for off-road use that might fall into this category (eg. Argocats etc).

Tim

Leave the A38 to go down Wellington Rd, Edgbaston Park Road, Somerset Road until you get to Metchly Park Road. 3.14km - or as close to 2 miles as you will get.

Now *I* don't mind.

Surely a car with this hi-tech auto-limiter will also have forward collision avoidance?

It's not that old really. The first car I can remember having a limiter was a 1982 model BMW. Really simple to use, and no car I've had since was as convenient (either too complicated or no limiter feature at all).

Those are models introduced since 2012, presumably?

In message <t3k8rh$2rg$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 18:58:08 on Mon, 18 Apr

Those days are long gone. Many Cities (and London Boroughs) have extensive 20mph zones.

And not just forward collision avoidance, cruise controls have had radar tracking and a specified distance behind the car in front for more than a decade now.

Mine has the one and not the other. They are separate options, and the CA is part of a more expensive package.

You've got a GPS linked auto-limiter?

Probably not. Seems to be traffix sign linked. But I am never quite sure.

My car has a front-mounted camera, it doesn't read speed signs (but I think I could enable that via VCDS and the OBD-II port) it has a manually set speed limiter, as well as manually set cruise control.

The camera has high/medium/low/off settings for "hazard detection", too many times it went BEEP! and displayed an exclamation mark on the dashboard which was a distraction from whatever supposed hazard it has detected, which I had always seen before it, and decided was not a real hazard anyway, so I gradually turned it down to lower and lower settings.

Then one day it tried to plant my face into the windscreen for a "non hazard" so it's now turned off.

Yes. Manchester put one in place and just as they finished, the research came back that showed that they *increased* accidents. They refuse to remove the 20 limits, as they "can't afford it". Personally I'd surcharge the people who authorised the implementation in the first place, without the evidence to back it up, and use that money to remove it.

Some road legal tractors don't have a speedo.

Bill