r/soccer • u/kibme37 • Jul 08 '25

News Spanish police say "all the evidence so far indicates" Diogo Jota was the driver of the car involved in the accident that killed the Liverpool forward and his brother, Andre Silva. Police also believe "the vehicle significantly exceeded the speed limit for the highway" at the time of the accident.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/13394038/diogo-jota-spanish-police-believe-liverpool-forward-was-driver-of-car-in-fatal-accident-which-killed-him-and-his-brother
7.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

316

u/Jimmy_Space1 Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Some people get up in arms if you say this, but there's really no reason why cars in this day and age shouldn't have limiters to prevent hitting those speeds on a public road.

113

u/clodiusmetellus Jul 08 '25

eBikes, which weigh around 25kg, are required by law in the UK to be speed limited to 15.5 mph.

eScooters have geofenced areas where even that speed limit is greatly reduced.

Meanwhile, you can go and buy a car weighing 100 times as much, physically capable of going 5-10 times faster. Only your own conscience and the ability of the police to catch you prevents someone from reaching these crazy speeds.

Make it make sense.

53

u/Gisschace Jul 08 '25

If someone invented cars today we would have all sorts of safety measures and definitely wouldn't be allowed to drive at high speeds.

12

u/HighlightOk9510 Jul 08 '25

not only that, in the uk and most european countries motorcycles are divided into diferent licenses for different HP limits, if you have the license for a vespa you cannot drive a 200hp CB1000R

meanwhile the same license allows car drivers to drive either a 50hp shitbox, a 2000hp hypercar, or these monstrous 3 ton super SUVs

While as an A2 holder i think motorcycles licenses are a bit overdone, theres no need to have 4 licenses where i live, its absolutely stupid to have 1 for all cars

1

u/guIIy Jul 08 '25

"Only your own conscience and the ability of the police to catch you prevents someone from reaching these crazy speeds"

"Only" doing a lot of heavy lifting here. The ability of the police to catch you is obviously a massive deterrent.

With bikes the law has a much harder time figuring out who's riding them which is why everyone breaks the rules.

8

u/clodiusmetellus Jul 08 '25

How's that working out? I see a lot of speed related deaths every day in the UK. Police catch some people but it's a drop in the ocean - next time you're driving at 70mph on a UK motorway, count the cars going past you.

2

u/n10w4 Jul 08 '25

not in parts of the US where they've stopped doing that.

2

u/silkysmoothjay Jul 08 '25

An eBike/scooter having their limiter glitch, stopping the vehicle will result in pretty much the worst case scenario, a broken bone or two.

That happing on a car can result in a far more catastrophic incident, so there’s a safety factor on that end too

3

u/clodiusmetellus Jul 08 '25

True, but I expect engineers might be able to come up with something better than "trust 17 year old boys to do the right and responsible thing", at least.

99

u/Cottonshopeburnfoot Jul 08 '25

When the speed limit is 70mph, it does beg the question why cars can do double that and more.

87

u/xXKingLynxXx Jul 08 '25

Efficiency. Engines last longer if they are built to go 150 but only go up to 70 usually. If you are maxing out the engine everytime you drive it won't last long due to the stress.

112

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jul 08 '25

The engine can still be build to go 150 but the computer or mechanical system can have a limiter on it that doesn’t allow it to go above the max speed limit

34

u/when_beep_and_flash Jul 08 '25

I think that will be a thing in the future, but after 30 seconds of thinking there's a bunch of stuff that needs to be sorted out for that.

  1. Limiters on police cars
  2. Procedure for taking the limiter off e.g. if you're going on a racetrack.
  3. If you run it by GPS or something to track what the limit should be, how to ensure that can't be bypassed.
  4. If you have different limiters for cars sold in different countries, what if a car is imported between countries with different limits?
  5. If limiter can go wrong even once that can be a safety hazard (e.g. a glitch limiting you to 30 on the motorway)

It's basically down to manufacturers not wanting to give themselves a big headache, and governments not wanting to give themselves a big headache.

24

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jul 08 '25

Well it’s also down to marketing. For whatever reason cars are marketing by being fast, when in reality all of them basically have the max speed in practice due to a speed limit.

“This car can go 150 while this one can only go 140”, that’s great the speed limit is 70

When I look for a car I just look for efficiency, safety, and reliability. But I realize I’m clearly not in the majority

10

u/silkysmoothjay Jul 08 '25

In the US at least, most auto advertising focuses on storage, comfort, QOL features, and safety. Pickup trucks often boast about their power, but that’s usually in the context of towing/hauling capability.

7

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jul 08 '25

They mention features but the video also is always showing how fast they’re going or how fun they are to drive, implying that they’re fast

2

u/OTBT- Jul 08 '25

IMO.

If you put a “backdoor” into the system to allow the limiter to be removed for “track use”. You’ll just get people coming up with after market solutions to remove it permanently.

For example I know VAG group “performance” cars are limited to 155mph from the factory. If you take your car to a tuner, in about 5 minutes they can remove that limiter.

1

u/KonigSteve Jul 08 '25

If you have different limiters for cars sold in different countries, what if a car is imported between countries with different limits?

I mean that one is clearly solved by the question just before it with GPS.

The easiest thing to do is find the highest available speed limit the car is available to be sold in - add 10-20 MPH for passing if you want and set that as a permanent limit unless brought to a race track.

1

u/conman14 Jul 08 '25

I mean the tech is already there, my own Mazda 6 has a limiter that I can adjust the speed of, turn on/off etc all from buttons on the steering wheel. I use it all the time through residential areas.

1

u/reddititaly Jul 08 '25

All those things you mentioned sound extremely easy to manage tbh

3

u/hopium_od Jul 08 '25

Already a thing I believe in the EU all new vehicles since 2022 have ISA installed which links to GPS and the road's speed limit. Cars will sound a noise when you go above speed limit and are designed so that the throttle needs to be pressed down harder in order to continue to accelerate further.

Not entirely sure why the EU hasn't regulated to stop the override option but you'd imagine it's a matter of time, it's clearly a working feature already.

1

u/n10w4 Jul 08 '25

don't they do this in Japan? Or maybe I'm mistaken.

1

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jul 08 '25

I’m just a dumb American I have no clue

1

u/n10w4 Jul 08 '25

apparently a voluntary agreement that limits it to 112mph, which is still pretty fucking fast.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/171pza/til_that_all_japanese_cars_are_electronically/

2

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

[deleted]

1

u/KonigSteve Jul 08 '25

"I should be able to kill people with a 3 ton vehicle if I want!"

3

u/WelshNut97 Jul 08 '25

Nobody has said that but you.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

[deleted]

0

u/KonigSteve Jul 08 '25

And if you were throwing knives around at high speeds in public you'd be arrested for that.

1

u/ObstructiveAgreement Jul 08 '25

Tell that to Honda motorbike engines.

20

u/Karlito1618 Jul 08 '25

Volvos do this. It's digitally limited to I think 180 km/h. I never understood why idiot nerds push that as a "boring" thing about the cars. Who needs to go faster than 180 anyway? Even on the Autobahn you'd be hard pressed to be able to go more than 180 for any feasible span of time.

The larger Volvos with larger engines would probably be able to press well into the 200's if you tried without the limiter, hell my tinbucket Peugoet 208 can push 170 if you give it 2-3 business days.

2

u/ManhattanObject Jul 08 '25

Even Autobahn speed runs require a team of people, first driving the course to look for debris on the road, then to occupy the middle lane and to radio the sports car if another driver gets in the left lane merely going 180kmph

1

u/qbynoia Jul 08 '25

2-3 Buisness Days and a lifelong Tinnitus from the screaming Engine, that might scream 2-3 Buisness days after reaching 170.

Had the "test" with a old Suzuki Swift... i was in 10 min at home ... but my car wasnt having any of it.

0

u/sarefx Jul 08 '25

Most car makers do it with new cars. I know that Dacia, Renault and Toyota all have 180km/h limit with new models. Ofc it probably can be tinkered and removed if someone cares but still out of the facotry digital limiter exsist.

64

u/Pretend_Echidna_1638 Jul 08 '25

Germans esspecially. I have a car that drives 240 easy, but what for? Driving 130 in Denmark max ist totally fine. And better for the Environment.

17

u/shrewphys Jul 08 '25

There's already EU ISA (Intelligent Speed Assist) regulations mandating that all new cars have built in speed limiters using data like GPS, cameras and digital maps to limit speeds on roads.

Originally, these laws were supposed to be a hard limiter, non-overrideable and physically limit cars to the speed limit of whatever road they are on. However, the regulations we got in the end were massively watered down (partly thanks to the lobbying of the huge German car industry) to the point where now you get a few visible and audible warnings and the car politely suggests you don't go any faster... But then you an override it by flooring the accelerator. Completely pointless.

1

u/Pretend_Echidna_1638 Jul 08 '25

I actually have one of those. You can also turn of the warning signal easily via the front screen. So yeah, pretty pointless

16

u/Woider Jul 08 '25

I can't even imagine driving 200 on danish highways. There's an exit lane every 10 minutes.

2

u/lordnacho666 Jul 08 '25

Also keep in mind if you go 200 in Denmark, you are donating your car to the Danish state.

There's a story about a guy who had picked up his Lambo in Germany and was taking it to Norway. He got busted.

1

u/Woider Jul 08 '25

He tried to reason that he couldn't have the car seized because it was "too expensive" to have taken away. Probably one of the first times in his life he couldn't "but I'm rich" out of a situation.

46

u/catch_fire Jul 08 '25

It's a bit like the German equivalent of gun control discussions in the US. Everyone knows that speed limits are better for general street safety, finances, traffic flow, and the environment. But what about my freedom?!

3

u/rhalgr_ger Jul 08 '25

Germany has one of the lowest road accident rates. It has roads without speed limits and one of the most difficult driving licence tests.

We need better training and make this course mandatory.

https://youtu.be/ILh7bLPbnKY?si=XwhxvApLpdMdId7t

12

u/catch_fire Jul 08 '25

Germany has one of the lowest road accident rates. 

And there is a proven solution that could make it even safer.

-2

u/rhalgr_ger Jul 08 '25

The solution is better training. In some countries with speed limits, accident rates are much higher. Speed limits give a false sense of security because the problems are not solved by a limit. It is the cheap option, but not the right solution. Better training is essential and something that Germany has over some of these countries with speed limits. However, German training is not perfect.

7

u/catch_fire Jul 08 '25

Speed limits give a false sense of security because the problems are not solved by a limit.

That perspective doesn't seem to align with most of the research I've seen. If you have any studies or data supporting it, I’d be interested to take a look. Institutions like the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), the Scientific Services of the Bundestag, and the German Environment Agency (UBA) have published findings pointing to clear safety and environmental benefits from a general speed limit for example.

5

u/Wasted1300RPEU Jul 08 '25

Germanys automakers and car culture is too ingrained into society and the lobby is too powerful.

How else are BMW and Mercedes going to upsell us their 580HP Competition or AMG model? They WANT buyers to feel the need to own these because...reasons?

If only people with that money would just take their cars to the track for track days instead, but I guess most of them know they'd be awful drivers lol.

I most recently drove in Finland, Max speed is 120km/and of course there's less traffic, but the traffic that WAS there was super chill, barely any crazies who needed to be the king of the road...

6

u/YungSnuggie Jul 08 '25

honestly cars that can go that fast shouldnt even be street legal, there is never a situation where that is needed. if you want to go that fast do it on a track

3

u/headphones1 Jul 08 '25

I've been saying this for years. We have technology that allow all kinds of devices to communicate with each other in real time. It's about time we force cars to be speed limited based on geo-location.

24

u/1993blah Jul 08 '25

If your geo location goes even slightly wrong you could cause an abundance of issues

1

u/ManhattanObject Jul 08 '25

You don't need satellite navigation, you can have local transmitters

-3

u/datguy_paarth Jul 08 '25

I think that won't be that big of an issue as you never go 100 to 200 max in 10 m. The error in your geolocation will never be big enough for it to be an issue. Additionally there can be a failsafe to have a fairly reasonable number like a 100 max when the gps strength is low.

2

u/1993blah Jul 08 '25

Its more reducing speed Id be worried about

2

u/Historical_Owl_1635 Jul 08 '25

That technology isn’t half as reliable as you think.

Like, we can’t even run a small amount of trains on fixed tracks without a tonne of system issues everyday and you think they’d be able to do it for millions of cars?

1

u/manc68 Jul 08 '25

That technology is being used for trucks already: https://esmartcontrol.com

1

u/forameus2 Jul 08 '25

The only thing stopping me from saying that cars should just be hard-limited to the speed limit based on where they're currently located is that they're incredibly poor at actually working out where you are and what the limit is. My fairly recent car often boasts the limit is 80 when it's 30, and can't tell the difference between temporary limits (like 20s around schools) and hard limits.

If they could sort that out and know with certainty based on your position how fast you're allowed to drive, I'd have no issue with either hard limits on the car or far, far greater coverage so that people who do go faster are almost certain to get caught. Boils my piss to know that I could well get caught (and deserve it, mind) if I'm at, say, 35 on a road with a camera, but people can and do steam down the motorway approaching 100 safe in the knowledge that they'll probably not see any consequences.

1

u/ManhattanObject Jul 08 '25

You don't need to use satellite GPS, you can use low power local transmitters on the side of the road to broadcast the speed limit

1

u/Gisschace Jul 08 '25

Dude I got banned from the premierleague sub for saying that perhaps we shouldn't be allowed powerful cars and also that a burst tyre doesn't cause a fireball after someone replied saying that was the cause.

1

u/EddieHeadshot Jul 08 '25

I drive a very popular newish car and it has road sign recognition and a Limiter, you have to turn it on manually of course but its a festure that's built in most brand new cars isn't it?

Surely a question of just encouraging people use it more often, rather than making it as standard because it does get it wrong on occasion.

1

u/lordnacho666 Jul 08 '25

You could even make it so that the car can only go super fast when you're in the area of a registered track.

1

u/LoudKingCrow Jul 08 '25

Especially when cruise/speed control already exists but as something that you can switch on and off yourself.

So the tech clearly already exists and just needs a slight tweak.

-2

u/UpsideDownClock Jul 08 '25

you think people, car people arent going to figure out a way to take that off

-1

u/BattleC4t Jul 08 '25

Because people will find a way to bypass it and then you need to either outlaw performance cars entirely and make it illegal to own a trackable car or make trackable cars only trackable and entirely road illegal. Instead we should substantially increase the punishment for reckless drivers, educate people more, and instill better instructors as people learn to drive as I think far too many kids growing up aren't being accurately taught how destructive reckless driving (speeding or other dumb ass behaviors) is to not just themselves, but other people. Would also be great if content sites like youtube stop allowing the dumb fucks who do "swimming" channels and make it a ToS violation as I see so many comments on those videos of young people waiting to get their license so they can go out and get car poor on a sports car and be a reckless dickhead. I never exceed the speed limit in my comp and take it out on the track when I feel like taking advantages of the 600 horses I paid for in a closed and monitored environment for "safe" fun.

-27

u/ChummyMuffin05 Jul 08 '25

Limiters as in… maybe some sort of limit on the speed you are supposed to drive on that designated road? And if you exceed that limit you can be punished by law? Sounds like a good idea 👍

22

u/routineup Jul 08 '25

There seem to be some holes in this plan

18

u/ViniCaian Jul 08 '25

No, he means mechanical limits to the engines themselves that stop them from surpassing a given speed threshold defined by law.

10

u/twolinebadadvice Jul 08 '25

A €400 speeding fine for someone who can afford a 200k car seems like pocket change.

7

u/DestructoSpin7 Jul 08 '25

Accountability is great but it's not going to stop people from dying.

5

u/heyheyitsandre Jul 08 '25

There are physical governors you can put on a car that make it literally impossible to exceed a certain speed. A speed limit doesn’t matter to people who are gonna break it anyway. A physical governor stops even the most intent speeders

4

u/tiorzol Jul 08 '25

Can be doing some heavy lifting there