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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am once again asking the question: Why don't cars have built-in speed regulators?
There's constant chatter about the potential risks associated with the rise in e-bikes, but little to no mention of regulating the existing menace. You want to talk about excessive power? Look no further.
Of course this is worked on, it is an EU goal to reduce traffic deaths to zero - for example with speed limits for cars:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero.
It's even harder with cars: Why are cars even allowed to go 240km/h? Yeah, there is the german autobahn, but there's no reason why a car which is registered in France should be able to go faster than the french max motorway speed limit. There is also no reason to allow cars to be able to go from 0 to 100 in x seconds. There is no use case for that, even if you try to merge into a motorway or overtake somewhere.
The drive from France to the nearest German motorway without a speed limit isn't that far, though.
You can also do track days and such, but I agree with you they don't need to be that quick
Actually, the speed should be a bit over the speed limit. What if you are driving the speed limit, but suddenly someone almost hits you? You gotta drive a bit faster.
There's a requirement to electronically limit the speed of all new road vehicles sold in the EU since 2024. The only problem is the vast difference in highway speeds within the Schengen area.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/European_Speed_Limits.svg/1280px-European_Speed_Limits.svg.png
Electronic limits are a bunch of bullshit, because they can be easily turned off.
Constructively limited top speeds would make a whole lot more sense.
Not that I don't agree with you, but to be fair, cars do require a license, they have to be registered and reguraly checked, which is not the case for a bike. In my opinion the failure here is that those should not be allowed for sale as bikes. Those are motocycle in all but name.
In Norway e-bikes are extremely strictly regulated: They need to have a power output of 250 W or less, motor output has to be linked to your pedaling movements, and the motor has to shut off completely when you reach 25 km/h. Anything more than that and you need to register it as a scooter/motorcycle. At which point you need a drivers licence, insurance, and can no longer ride it on bike paths. I was under the impression that this was an EU requirement. But maybe S-Pedelecs are treated like normal bicycles in the rest of Europe?
It's the same in the EU but as with cars, the power can be electronically limited, so the user can remove the limitation with some limited tinkering. So you end up with and electric motorbike, and there is no regular check or registration. I have also never Heard of any form of control about this. Still better than letting people buy cars that can go 250kmh and trusting them with it, but at least you can track car owners.
No, it's exactly like you've described the situation in Norway.
Totally agree with you. Would like to add that we should also limit the noise that cars and motorcycles make. Many places have noise regulations but they are rarely enforced
Governors presumably set to the speed limit?
There are places in the US with posted 85mph speed limits on the freeways.
Is that where we are setting them?
In the EU all new cars sold after June 2024 must now have Intelligent Speed Assist: https://road-safety-charter.ec.europa.eu/resources-knowledge/media-and-press/intelligent-speed-assistance-isa-set-become-mandatory-across
Thank you for sharing, that was an interesting read. I hadnโt heard of this before.
This part was particularly amusing.
This one seems fairly obvious to me. People regard their cars as they would their homes and computers: personal space. They don't like their personal space being regulated, even if they don't intend to break the law. An analogy might be monitoring one's internet traffic. Sure, I don't intend to break any laws, but I still don't like it. Any politician wading into this fight is going to get their asses handed to them in the next election.
Going in a car, you necessarily interact with others, what you do and how you do it clearly affects their safety, their personal space and you can even easily kill them with a single wrong movement of one hand or one foot.
That's by definition clearly the realm where your personal freedom ends - the fundamental rights of others give it limits. And this is good so.
Going on a computer with internet access gives one the ability to exact enormous damage on the world at exponentially higher scale than anything one could do in a car. Should all computer use be actively monitored?