Intelligent Speed Assistance mandatory on all new cars from Sunday 7 July - RAC comment

With all new cars sold in the Europe needing to be fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems from this Sunday following an EU mandate, RAC road safety spokesperson Rod Dennis said:

“While it’s not currently mandated that cars sold in the UK have to be fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems, we’d be surprised if manufacturers deliberately excluded the feature from those they sell in the UK as it would add unnecessary cost to production.

“Anyone getting a new vehicle would be well advised to familiarise themselves with ISA and how it works. In practice, if a driver exceeds the speed limit, an audible warning is sounded and then the car’s speed is automatically reduced. But a driver can still press hard on the accelerator to override it momentarily, for instance to negotiate a hazard in the road ahead.

“But just because a vehicle’s speed can be limited doesn’t mean drivers should accelerate as fast as possible to the speed limit. It’s important to always drive at the right speed for the conditions, whether that’s due to traffic, bad weather or other hazards.”