Not So Fast Can Technology Put The Brakes On Speeding Drivers?

In the highway code and the courts, there is no doubt what the big numbers in red circles mean.

- Gwyn Topham

But as a trip up any urban street or motorway with no enforcement cameras makes clear, many drivers still regard speed signs as an aspiration, not a limit.

Technology that will be required across Europe from this weekend may change that, as all new cars sold in the EU and Northern Ireland from 7 July must have a range of safety features fitted. One of these is Intelligent Speed Assistance - or colloquially, a speed limiter.

While the rest of the UK is theoretically free to, as ministers once put it, make the most of its post-Brexit freedoms, the integrated nature of car manufacturing means new cars here will also be telling their drivers to take their foot off the gas. Combining satnav maps with a forward camera to read the road signs, vehicles will automatically sound an alarm if driven too fast for the particular zone they are in.

Drivers of most new cars will be familiar with similar features installed already, but they are currently easy to override. According to a representative at one major manufacturer: "You've got to balance whether it makes the car safer but it's driving people mad. In practice, we're finding that a lot of people are switching it all off."

However, cars will from now be designed with systems that are impossible to permanently turn off, restarting each time the engine is reignited. Will car lovers see this as pure progress?