Photo: Renault
According to Renault boss Luca de Meo, a third of all fatal car accidents result from excessive speed, and his goal is to have all new models, whether it’s a Renault or a Dacia, adhere to a 112 mph (180 kph) speed limit.
That is the exact same speed enforced by Volvo back in 2020, and if a carmaker the size of Renault wants to go that route, it’s safe to assume that others will likely join the party at some point in the future.
The Renault CEO also wants to fit his company’s cars with an automatic speed control system dubbed Safety Coach, reports Spiegel. This system would adjust speed based on local speed limits while also taking into account variables such as road conditions, weather, or the driver’s attention (or lack thereof).
Before Volvo adopted this philosophy, its CEO stated that a lower top speed limit is very much worth it if it can save even one life in the process. We can’t really disagree with that notion, especially since even the safest vehicles out there in terms of passive safety are no match for forces endured during a high-speed crash.
While there isn’t a lot of research on the matter, scientists insist that a lower speed limit would be efficient in lowering the overall number of serious accidents. Take Brandenburg, Germany, where a 130 kph (80 mph) speed limit was introduced back in 2002 on a 62 km (39 mile) section of highway. The results speak for themselves: before the speed limit, there were 654 accidents in three years, whereas that number dropped to just 337 accidents after enforcing the speed limit.
The same goes for injuries, where between 1996 and 2002, a total of 1,850 people were injured in accidents on this section of the motorway. The number fell by more than half to 799 people injured after the introduction of the 130 kph (80 mph) speed limit.
The Renault CEO also wants to fit his company’s cars with an automatic speed control system dubbed Safety Coach, reports Spiegel. This system would adjust speed based on local speed limits while also taking into account variables such as road conditions, weather, or the driver’s attention (or lack thereof).
Before Volvo adopted this philosophy, its CEO stated that a lower top speed limit is very much worth it if it can save even one life in the process. We can’t really disagree with that notion, especially since even the safest vehicles out there in terms of passive safety are no match for forces endured during a high-speed crash.
While there isn’t a lot of research on the matter, scientists insist that a lower speed limit would be efficient in lowering the overall number of serious accidents. Take Brandenburg, Germany, where a 130 kph (80 mph) speed limit was introduced back in 2002 on a 62 km (39 mile) section of highway. The results speak for themselves: before the speed limit, there were 654 accidents in three years, whereas that number dropped to just 337 accidents after enforcing the speed limit.
The same goes for injuries, where between 1996 and 2002, a total of 1,850 people were injured in accidents on this section of the motorway. The number fell by more than half to 799 people injured after the introduction of the 130 kph (80 mph) speed limit.
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