Road Safety Experts Call for Mandatory Speed-Limiting Technology and Dashcams for New Drivers

MPs hear proposals for non-overridable intelligent speed assistance, compulsory driver monitoring and stricter enforcement as part of the Government's developing road safety strategy.

Road safety experts have urged MPs to back sweeping changes to vehicle technology and driver regulation, including making it physically impossible for motorists to exceed the speed limit and requiring every newly qualified driver to install dashcams and monitoring systems for their first five years behind the wheel.

The proposals were presented during a Transport Committee evidence session examining the Government's forthcoming road safety strategy, where witnesses argued that advances in vehicle technology should play a far greater role in reducing deaths and serious injuries on Britain's roads.

Among the most significant recommendations was the introduction of mandatory, non-overridable Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), preventing vehicles from exceeding the legal speed limit regardless of driver input.

'Technology Already Exists'

Dr Rob Torok, a pre-hospital critical care doctor with Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, told MPs that the technology needed to eliminate speeding already exists and should be made compulsory.

He said:

"It should be physically impossible, technologically impossible for a vehicle to exceed a legal speed limit on the roads. We have the technical capability, we have the infrastructure, and where there are glitches, they can be ironed out."

Dr Torok argued that current Intelligent Speed Assistance regulations do not go far enough because drivers are able to deactivate the system.

He added:

"Only proper ISA that is absolutely compulsory, mandatory. You can't override it."

Referring to existing legislation, he continued:

"The ISA that is legislated for, I understand, is not absolutely compulsory and you can turn it off and it doesn't absolutely adhere to the speed limits on the road."

London Already Using Mandatory ISA

Evidence presented to the committee suggested that the concept is already being successfully deployed in parts of the public transport sector.

Lilli Matson, Chief Safety, Health and Environment Officer at Transport for London, confirmed that approximately 3,000 of London's 9,000 buses are already fitted with mandatory Intelligent Speed Assistance that drivers cannot override.

The same technology is also installed across TfL's own operational vehicle fleet.

Matson told MPs that expanding the requirement nationally would be technically achievable.

Reliable Speed Data Remains Key Challenge

While supporting compulsory ISA, Phil Jones, Chair of Phil Jones Associates and former head of the Welsh Government's 20mph Task Force, warned that existing systems still suffer from accuracy issues.

He said many in-vehicle systems occasionally display incorrect speed limits, creating what he described as a credibility problem.

Jones argued that Government should provide reliable digital speed limit data to ensure vehicles receive accurate information before mandatory systems are introduced more widely.

He also suggested ISA could remove one of the principal objections to lower speed limits by making enforcement largely automatic.

Calls for Radical Vehicle Restrictions

The committee also heard more ambitious proposals aimed at fundamentally changing vehicle design.

Adrian Berendt, Director of 20's Plenty for Us, questioned why manufacturers are still permitted to sell cars capable of travelling far beyond the UK's legal motorway speed limit.

He told MPs:

"It is completely bizarre that any car is allowed to be sold which can do more than 70."

Speed Enforcement Under Scrutiny

Dr Torok also criticised existing enforcement thresholds, arguing that current guidance effectively tolerates low-level speeding despite the increased risk it presents.

He pointed to long-standing police guidance under which enforcement often begins at 35mph in a 30mph limit, suggesting this sends the wrong message to motorists.

He said:

"The risk of 35mph, rather than 30mph, is an increase in fatalities of 90% and an increase in severe injuries of 62%."

He argued current penalties fail to reflect those risks, adding that some motorists dismiss enforcement measures as little more than an inconvenience.

20mph Limits Highlighted as Effective Safety Measure

Throughout the evidence session, witnesses repeatedly identified 20mph default speed limits on residential roads as one of the most effective measures available to improve road safety.

Evidence presented to MPs pointed to reductions of around 34% in people killed or seriously injured on London's roads over a ten-year period following the wider introduction of 20mph limits.

Committee members also referenced similar casualty reductions recorded in Edinburgh after introducing lower urban speed limits.

Debate Likely to Continue

The proposals represent some of the most far-reaching road safety measures discussed in recent years and would fundamentally change the relationship between drivers, vehicles and speed enforcement.

Supporters argue that mandatory technology could dramatically reduce collisions caused by excessive speed, while critics are likely to question the implications for driver freedom, privacy and the practical challenges of introducing non-overridable systems nationwide.

The Transport Committee's inquiry into the Government's road safety strategy is expected to continue with further oral evidence sessions later this autumn, with ministers expected to consider the recommendations as work progresses on a new national approach to road safety.