Taxi Driver Online

Taxis and buses face automatic speed limiting

Thousands of taxis, buses and council vehicles could be fitted with devices which prevent them from exceeding the speed limit. The technology - known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation - is being tested by Transport for London in a trial starting this summer on all roads inside the M25.

Drivers of vehicles with ISA will be able select an option which prevents them accelerating over the limit. The vehicle will also automatically slow down if the driver fails to reduce his speed when he passes a sign marking a reduction in the limit.

In addition to the automatic mode, the device has an advisory mode in which the driver is simply informed of the limit and told whether or not he is complying. A smiley ’face’ appears on the sat nav-style unit if the driver is obeying the limit. The face frowns if the motorist goes too fast.

The technology is likely to be offered for sale next year to private motorists. Those with six or nine penalty points may choose to have it installed to avoid an automatic six-month driving ban for receiving 12 points within three years.

Transport for London, which will tomorrow announce a six month trial of ISA, estimates that if two thirds of London drivers use the devices, the number of road casualties in the Capital could be reduced by 10 per cent.

The improvement in road safety could also reduce congestion, a quarter of which is caused by collisions. Vehicles obeying the limit would also consume less fuel and be less polluting.

Even if only a fraction of vehicles were equipped with ISA, they would have a widespread affect on traffic speed because other drivers would have to slow down behind them. However, some motoring groups have voiced concern that ISA vehicles would result in a rise in dangerous overtaking.

TfL’s trial will include a London bus, a licensed taxi and 20 cars driven by road engineers, traffic mangers and highway inspectors. If the trial demonstrates clear safety and environmental benefits, bus companies and taxi operators could either be obliged to equip their vehicles with ISA or be given incentives to do so.

Results of the trial will be published in the Spring, when the technology will be made available to other organisations. Southwark Council has already expressed an interest in fitting ISA to more than 300 of its vehicles.

Chris Lines, Head of TfL’s London Road Safety Unit, said: ”This innovative technology could help any driver in London avoid the unnecessary penalties of creeping over the speed limit and at the same time will save lives. “We know the technology works and now we want to know how drivers in all types of vehicles respond to it.

“ISA is intended as a road safety device, but if Londoners embrace this technology we may well see additional benefits including reduced congestion as a result of collisions and reduced vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style.” Councillor Jeff Hook, executive member for environment at Southwark Council, said: “As an Approved Driving Instructor, I understand more than most the pressing need to make our streets safer and the value of speed limits. This technology could revolutionise the way we keep our roads safer in Southwark, and that’s why we’re really interested in this trial and if it’s successful we hope to kit out our entire fleet of nearly three hundred vehicles as soon as funding allows.” Andrew Howard, Head of Road safety at the AA, said: “Drivers are divided in their views of intelligent speed adaptation - some hate it, some want it. Many have questions that will be answered only by trials like those being carried out by TfL.

“The AA welcomes these trials which help build the knowledge base and experience to show whether Intelligent Speed Adaptation can cut collisions, delays and pollution, and to check for potential side-effects.

“The trials will also allow the views of people who have driven vehicles with the equipment to be gathered and better understood.”

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IDFIMH

thats ok till a temporary 30 limit for roadworks occurs in a 50 area and the driver is so accustomed to the limiter looking after his speed he doesnt slow down


one got me at 2am over bodmin moor with only me and some owls in a 30 mile radius....bstards

and the DVLA site said the limit was 40 thru the roadworks, yer, rite.....not

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

I've already got a speed limiter on my car it's called a my right foot

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Life? Don't talk to me about life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjm2eslm6hI

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0177684107

This would be a lot cheaper

1 bought one

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Okay you got one that works and slows you down! but what about the guy behind you who like us all gets used to it slowing the vehicle down for him, and it fails - goodbye you!

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

It’s the worst thing they ever put in HGVs, John Major to blame for that one. His argument was that accidents with HGVs would decrease if limiters were fitted. The accident rate has gone up since then. Have you ever been hissed off on the motorway or duel carriageway when you see two HGVS side by side for miles, each trying to get passed each other. The one on the outside is usually got a 1mph advantage and usually takes1/2 minutes to get passed...until he gets to a hill. Then the inside HGV [a less heavily laden HGV] makes ground on the HGV to its right, & so it goes on! I can say that it’s no fun especially at night side by side within 2 feet of each other for 5 minutes, extremely stressful. You need all your wits about you. Pre-limiter you could overtake in 30 seconds with a slight increase in speed, then return to cruise mode.

You may as well blame Labour for the motorway speed limit then, cos they introduced it, by a non-driving transport minister

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Why bother passing at all if they can't go any faster?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Its because every tractor unit+trailer+load has totally different horsepower, torque, wind drag and momentum

it can seem no problem to go round 1 artic with another, then find that your slowing more than him when you hit a rise and your both hiting the limiter but they arent doing the same thing at the same time...

the HGV drivers i know hate it as much as anyone stuck behind them, slowing down instead of overtaking loses so much momentum, then they cant actually get round the other guy

i used to drive a restricted 7.5tonner and its bloody awful

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Exactly Wannabe you have a full grasp of the situation.

Which is more than I can say for me

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

put simply, if you were a trucker is whistling along at 56mph, on the limiter and starts a slight rise in the road, the truck he comes up behind slowing faster than he is (on HIS limiter) looks "easy meat" to overtake, he pulls out, the his 14ft tall fridge trailer hits clear air, the road levels off, the truck he is now level with has a bigger engine/better torque/flat trailer, and gains 4mph

result? - they are side by side and equal...

backing off to drop back in behind the lane 1 truck is no easier than speeding up (which he cant do) to get in front

you know that no 2 "identical" cars are quite the same, try it with artics, one can have an tall empty trailer and be slower than a loaded flat trailer due to wind drag and slight differences in limiters/engine settings/brakes binding (all 12 brakes.....) the permutations are endless


lets pick on caravans instead...

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

dont forget each artic is a 40ft trailer and another 15ft of unit, each drawbar unit is even longer, having 60ft of internal load space, plus cab, plus gap between prime mover and trailer, 3 artics passing one at 50mph is over a quarter mile of chaos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojGksCRy_nM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vij8cqVa ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX2gRUa6 ... re=related

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

I sorry I asked

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!