Safe Speed Forums

I'm changing the car soon, and have been looking around the web for blurb. The following, concerining "cruise control with speed limiter" is from the Renault website (Laguna specifically, but the principle applies generally):

Control your speed

The Cruise Control maintains the programmed cruising speed. The Speed Limiter prevents it from exceeding a given speed.

Advantages

Travel with complete peace of mind: with the Cruise Control there is no need to keep your eyes fixed on the speedometer or to play with the accelerator pedal. The programmed speed is constant, enabling you to pay more attention to other vehicles.

Drive with complete safety: with the limiter, observing the speed limit is easy once the maximum speed is programmed. A modern, reassuring piece of technology where driving comfort makes you sometimes forget the sensation of speed.

Keep control of your driving: in both cases you can regain control of the speed at any time by pressing the accelerator or applying the brakes


Any comments on this gloss?

Cruise Control on UK roads is dangerous. Would say any road with traffic causes problems with them.

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Life in the Air Age isn't all the Brochures Say...

A member of the family has such a device in his Mazda; both he and his wife do say it is useful to ensure speed limit compliance, especially in a SPECS area.


Interestingly, his wife, who is not as comfortable with the limiter yet and can't bring herself to trust it absolutely, has reported watching the limiter's settings. Not sure if this is in addition to, or instead of, the speedo. I leave you to draw your own conclusions of that.


Find this one a little worrying; would this not encourage the driver to move their foot away from the pedals. If so, I can't help but think that would increase response times should an 'incident' develop.


I've not actually used a limiter myself, and my comments are supposition, but the thought of one really doesn't appeal. I just see them reinforcing the mistaken belief that the speed limit is the safe speed, and that as long you are travelling at said limit, everything will be hunky dory.


Kaz

Not only that, but you have to apply the brakes in order to disengage the control. Normally, when you take your foot off the accelerator you get some engine braking (assuming you're in the right gear) before you get onto the brake pedal. Not much, but may just be enough to avoid a prang.
With cruise control you lose this.

I would say "the opportunities to use it safely are limited" which is not quite the same thing.

When I had a car with cruise control I did find it useful on quiet motorways, but it can be hard to find those. This particular system could be disengaged by pressing a button on the stalk so you didn't have to use the brakes.

Regards,

Peter

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

There is an additional danger with the normal type of cruise control when fitted to cars with auto boxes. As they only control the speed by regulating the throttle (not the brakes) then on a downhill road the set speed can be exceeded merely by the car coasting with the throttle completely shut.

Thus you could be serenely tootling along with the speed limiter set to 30mph, but actually be going considerably faster without realising it.

I think more and more people will see cruise control as a way of protecting their licences from speed cameras, and this is dreadful for safety. The idea of people smugly wafting along in urban situations, past schools etc with the cruise latched in at 33mph scares me to death.

Yes, and this is precisely the kind of dangerous nonsense that Professor Oliver Carsten and other advocates of external speed control want to force on drivers.

It is astonishing and depressing how they can be so ignorant about the fundamental principles of safe driving.

Regards,

Peter

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Cruise control just doesn't seem to work well in this country. First there's the obvious dangers of using cruise on urban and suburban roads. The system on my car won't even work below about 40mph, and the manual says that's for safety reasons. The makers clearly feel that cruise control is fundamentally unsuitable for these roads. 'Nuff said. I'd seriously worry if there were large numbers of cars out there that could use cruise control on urban roads. I can imagine police clearing up after an accident being told "I know I wasn't speeding officer, I'd set the cruise control to make sure". I'd say if anything even the 40mph cut off point on my car is too low. IMO cruise should only ever be used on motorways and dual carriageways so 55-60 would probably be more appropriate. If conditions are forcing me to reduce the cruise any slower than this it's probably better to switch the damn thing off and take full control myself.

The next problem is space. Let's say for the sake of argument that the overwhelming majority of cars had cruise control and that in dry weather most owners set it to 70 as soon as they were on the motorway. [sarcasm]Yippee, virtually no speeding.[/sarcasm] But would widespread use of cruise control further reduce gaps between vehicles? A 2 second gap is pretty unusual these days as it is, and if everyone was toodling along on cruise I suspect it would become even rarer. I feel that if drivers are encouraged to turn over responsibilty for car control to vehicle electronics, we will end up with more drivers who no longer feel that they are responsible for car control. Call me a luddite, but that doesn't sound like a step forward.

The idea of limters doesn't sound exactly wonderful either. The 56 mph limiters on HGVs was mentioned on another thread, and there was a suggestion that truck drivers end up driving foot to the floor and struggling to overtake each other on motorways. It was also mentioned that long distance driving on the limiter is mind numbingly dull and may reduce driver awareness. If that's the case why have it on cars as well? I would also argue that there are rare circumstances where the best way of avoiding an accident is to accelerate out of the danger area and stuff the speed limit. It could be interesting if you try to do this and remember slightly too late that you've set the limiter. Sure, such circumstances are unusual but that wouldn't be much comfort if you're in an ambulance as a result of your own car denying you full control of your speed.

Even on motorways it's rare that I ever use cruise control anymore. I was quite excited about having cruise when I first got the car. Okay, that's a bit sad I know, but I'm a bloke so I like gadgets. That's not a crime - well, not yet anyway. What I found was that in reality cruise control is about the most pointless gadget I've ever had. Too dangerous to use on urban/suburban roads, too frustrating to use on fast ones. Dealing with motorway traffic means constantly having to switch the damn thing on and off until you get to the point where it's easier not to bother using it at all. 2am on a Sunday morning is fine, but during normal hours forget it. Even weekday afternoons I often find it's just not worth the effort of switching it on when I know it's going to be turned off again in a mile or two. Not quite chocolate kettle territory, but not far off.

I would suggest that such circumstances aren't that rare, although "accelerating out of danger" might not be the right way of putting it.
Every time you overtake, whether it be on a single road or on the motorway, you're potentially in danger - either from oncoming traffic or from the vehicle you're overtaking. The quicker you pass the less the danger, and this is normally achieved by accelerating briskly past the speed limit. Many a 'near miss' whilst overtaking would have been a prang had the driver not accelerated as much.

Regards
Peter

I've only driven a car with cruise control a couple of times, and have to admit that the 'feeling' that the vehicle was in control was pretty uncomfortable. Perhaps you get used to it, dunno.

Another observation on CC, mightn't it reduce driver concentration, in the same way some believe that their concentration reduces when they are forced to drive a slower speeds?

Maybe it has a place in an enormous limo cruising along 800 miles of arrow staright higway in the USA, but on our congested little backroads we call motorways..I'm not so sure.

You'll find cruise control on most modern Artics and some Rigids. We use them for fuel ecomony, driving at a steady speed is more economical than continually up an down the speedo.
A lot of CCs on trucks will not engage below 50kph(approx 32mph), so should not be used in a 30 zone, however, they really come into their own in 40 and above limits, it means the truck driver can spend more time looking for other hazards instead of looking inside the cab at the speedo.
I even managed to use CC today in London.
As long as you realise that CC is there purely as an assistant to the driver, then it is completely safe, when the driver starts to rely on it, then it becomes dangerous.
As for speed limiters, coming up the A1(M) today, I was stuck behind a truck doing 53mph, I was pegged at 55mph, with the traffic, I felt it was unwise and antisocial to try to overtake, taking the next couple of miles to do so, if I had, I would have been able to pull away and travel that little bit faster, safely.
I just dropped back and equalised speed until there was an uphill, as I was empty and he was loaded, I was able to scoot past him and push on at 55mph.
The big problem is that not all trucks are set to 56mph, which is the maximum speed limit, some are 55, some 53, and the supermarket trolleys are 50mph and cause all sorts of congestion.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

In an enormous limo I'd expect the chauffeur to deal with it.
If you were to go a long distance on cruise set at the same speed it's probably a bit mind numbing. I found this in the US and Australia where it's possible in some areas to cruise at the same speed for well over an hour, maybe a lot more. After a while you can get distracted by stuff you wouldn't normally give a second thought to just because your mind starts to wander. It's easier to use than on our crowded roads, but I still don't like using it for long periods.

And they're all legally allowed to do 60, right? Well that makes so much sense.

The system in some Mercs is better. You can set your own pre-determined top speed. It's not cruise, but if you accelerate normally, the car just won't go above your chosen speed. Floor the throttle and it's clever enough to know you might need the power and it switches itself off. Useful and arguably better suited to this country.

Have to say I use my cruise control quite a lot but then, with the exception of the M62 traffic tends to flow better than uo north than down safffff.

Last year I was travelling on the A19 from York to Newcastle and back most days, I could often travel nearly the whole length of the dual carriageway section without having to disengage the cruise control once.

Made for a very relaxing drive home at 80 mph

<<You'll find cruise control on most modern Artics and some Rigids. We use them for fuel ecomony, driving at a steady speed is more economical than continually up an down the speedo.>>

We have cruise control on one of our trucks, which i am unhappy about. We are sending drivers on nine hour trips, with the ability to switch their truck into auto mode. This requires less concentration, with a driver already under fatigue. It is a receipe for an accident.

Cruise control is now widely available on cars, trucks & m/bikes. It may ease the pressure of keeping your foot (hand) on the throttle. But it takes away driver alertness.

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Steve

We are sending drivers on nine hour trips, with the ability to switch their truck into auto mode. This requires less concentration, with a driver already under fatigue.

If a driver is going on a 9hr trip, then he has the opportunity to take a 45min break.
Use of the CC, allows more attention to be outside the cab, instead of inside the cab looking at the speedo.
If the driver is fatigued before the journey, then he is not taking the time to rest as he should. A drivers responsibility towards rest does not end when he locks the cab and goes home and restart when he unlocks the cab and gets back in.
A drivers job is 24/7 whether we, as drivers, like it or not, we have a responsibility to ourselves, our families and other road users, so we should make sure we get our much needed rest.
The ability to park in a lay-by and be rocked to sleep and be rocked every time a vehicle drives past does not bode well for getting a good nights sleep.
Park in a truckstop, and you get the same problem, trucks doing changeovers, trucks with fridges, and the numpty's who insist on standing outside your cab having a very loud conversation, Oh, and of course the cretin who decides to lean on his horn to attract his mates attention.
Then you get the truckstop drivers who spend all evening in the bar partaking in the chior practice, you know, standing there looking up with your mouth open and pouring beer into the mouth.
Get wrecked at the weekend, but not when you are going to be in charge, a couple of hours later, of a 44 ton missile.
Have a look at the PDA website and sign the parking petition, please, and I would ask everybody to do so.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

......I got it in my new Chrysler PT Cruiser.

I had an uncomfortable feeling whenever I let the thing take over the cruise speed and after a while I stopped using it at all.

I recently made a 600 mile journey right across central Scotland to Stranraer and then from Belfast on to the West coast of the Republic of Ireland and back. With the traffic congestion in the central belt of Scotland and the traffic congestion on the NI M1 and simply awful roads in the Republic of Ireland I was unable to use the C.C. even once !

I think that this function is only useful for long-distance driving across Wyoming, or Northern Australia and to use it on British roads is asking for trouble.

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Regards

Papaumau

http://www.rip-off.co.uk/index1.htm
http://www.network54.com/hide/forum/100558

From my experience of using cruise control, it does have the advantage of not having to keep the foot on the accelerator pedal, and allowing you to rest this foot is an advantage in motorway driving.

I do not think it made me concentrate on the road any less, but I was always hopeful of not having to leave cruise-control by slowing down, so my driving was perhaps slightly distorted as a result when someone entered my lane in front of me.

[quote="Dratsabasti"]We are sending drivers on nine hour trips, with the ability to switch their truck into auto mode. This requires less concentration, with a driver already under fatigue.

<<If a driver is going on a 9hr trip, then he has the opportunity to take a 45min break.>>

Hardley makes up for the 4.5 each end

<< so we should make sure we get our much needed rest.>>

Only if you can afford it, we can not park anymore without having to pay on any m/ways. It is disgracefull.


Cruise Control encourages the driver to move the feet away from the pedals, thus increasing reaction time.

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Steve

My parents have cruise contol and a speed limiter seperate devices. They tried the speed limiter and found it would be dangerous if you had to accelerate to avoid an accident.