Volvo is to become the first car manufacturer to limit the speed of all of its vehicles in a bid to reduce the number of accidents.

The Swedish company announced that it will cap the speed of all of its new cars at 112mph as of next year because too many people are seriously injured or killed as a result of excessive speeding.

Hakan Samuelsson, its CEO, acknowledged that speed limitation was “not a cure-all” but added: “It's worth doing if we can even save one life."

Volvo, now owned by Chinese firm Geely, also said it was developing “smart speed controls” and geo-fencing technology that could detect when cars were being driven close to vulnerable sites such as schools and hospitals and so restrict speeds.

The company said it was considering deploying facial recognition cameras in cars to monitor a motorist’s attentiveness and prevent people from driving while distracted or drunk.

Jan Ivarsson, one of its leading safety experts, said: “People often drive too fast in a given traffic situation and have poor speed adaptation in relation to that traffic situation and their own capabilities as a driver.