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Traffic laws and courts leave no doubt as to what the big numbers in red circles mean, but as any quick drive on any city road or highway without enforcement cameras will show, many drivers still see speed signs as targets rather than limits.

Technology that becomes mandatory across Europe from this weekend could change that culture, because from July 7 all new cars sold in the EU and Northern Ireland must come standard with a suite of technological safety features, most notable of which is intelligent speed assistance, colloquially known as a speed limiter.

While the rest of the UK can theoretically enjoy the fullest range of post-Brexit freedoms, as ministers used to be fond of saying, the integrated nature of car manufacturing means that new cars here will also tell drivers to take their foot off the accelerator, combining satellite-navigation maps with a forward-facing camera that reads road signs and automatically sounds an alarm if you're going too fast in the zone you're in.

Drivers of newer cars will be accustomed to similar features already installed, but for now they can be easily disabled. As a representative for one major manufacturer said, “You have to balance whether it makes the car safer, but it's upsetting people. We've found that a lot of people actually have everything turned off.”

But as cars of the future are designed with systems that can never be turned off, restarting the engine every time it shuts off, will car enthusiasts see this as genuine progress?

“This is one of those things that's very hard to argue against,” says Steve Fowler, an automotive consultant and former editor of Autocar. “Observing the speed limit will not only save you in countless ways, it could potentially save your life.”

Safety is the biggest reason to slow down and, as charities such as Brake and Rospa highlight, even a small increase in speed of just over 30mph can make a big difference to outcomes, especially for people who are not driving.

Yousif Al Ani, lead engineer for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) at Thatcham Research, said: “Modern cars are very good at protecting occupants in the event of a crash, thanks to passive safety features such as airbags and crush zones, but the benefit to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists is limited.”

In the UK, the number of road fatalities caused by speeding vehicles has increased at a faster rate than the overall number of fatalities since the spread of COVID-19, rising 20% ​​to 303 out of 1,695 in 2022.

A significant minority of drivers admit to breaking the speed limit on all kinds of roads, but when you observe that traffic flows smoothly,
By the Ministry of Transport
This suggests that the percentage is much higher.
RAC's 2023 Automotive Report57% of drivers said they broke the 70 mph speed limit on freeways. In most urban areas a 30 mph speed limit was most likely to be observed, with only 40% breaking it. A Department of Transport study found that on free-flowing 20 mph roads, rather than residential areas with speed bumps, 80-90% of vehicles ignored the speed limit.

One of the most common arguments speeders make to the RAC is: “I drive at the same speed as other road users”. This kind of peer pressure may not be surprising to those struggling to stick to the 20mph speed limit on, say, London or Wales' major roads, where they are met with looks of infuriated incredulity from drivers behind, and on the M6 ​​toll many seem to think that paying the £9.70 toll gives them the right to blaze past at 80mph as well as avoid Birmingham.

But with computers replacing erratic speedometer needles with more accurate readings and a new generation of speed cameras providing increased enforcement, denying liability may become harder. Lawyers say people who turned off their speed limiters when they started driving could find themselves in a difficult position if they end up in court.

Not only will limiters be mandatory, but also other ADAS features such as automatic lane keeping and automatic emergency braking. Questions remain about whether the technology will work well enough in all real-world situations, and how comfortable people will be with a car telling them what to do, let alone controlling the steering, braking and acceleration, which can cause anxiety and disorientation.

“Balancing safety, performance and integration, and building a system that works with the driver, is a real challenge for manufacturers,” Al Ani says.

But most agree that the benefits far outweigh the risks. More and more drivers are willing to go slower and rely more on technology, Fowler said. “I think driving is changing, and drivers are changing, and I hate to say it, but they don't necessarily like the stuff that enthusiasts of the past liked, the engineering that's been put into it.”

“People are more aware that speeding increases fuel consumption. If you're going 80 miles per hour on the highway, your fuel consumption increases exponentially.”

With the rising cost of living putting as much emphasis on miles per gallon as speed, Fowler says that driving well may be more enjoyable than going fast. “We need to develop a new generation of drivers who realize that more relaxed driving can be just as rewarding. If you drive well without losing momentum, you won't have to stop and start as often, which saves fuel, saves money and saves on emissions. Maybe mpg will become the new mph.”