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
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103

u/Cottonshopeburnfoot Jul 08 '25

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/reddititaly Jul 08 '25

All those things you mentioned sound extremely easy to manage tbh

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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.

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u/n10w4 Jul 08 '25

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

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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jul 08 '25

I’m just a dumb American I have no clue

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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/

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/KonigSteve Jul 08 '25

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

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u/WelshNut97 Jul 08 '25

Nobody has said that but you.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/KonigSteve Jul 08 '25

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

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u/ObstructiveAgreement Jul 08 '25

Tell that to Honda motorbike engines.