In the United States, speeding causes almost one-third of all traffic deaths, and these fatalities have shown a rising trend over the past few years. A handful of states have turned to anti-speeding devices known as intelligent speed assistance as a potential solution. But in New York, one such bill has seen little progress. Now, advocates are trying to mount pressure on the state’s Senate before it adjourns in June.
Last month, Virginia became the first state to allow judges to order those convicted of driving over 100 miles per hour to install GPS-powered devices preventing them from going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. The state’s law came after Washington, D.C.’s Council passed a bill creating an ISA program for drivers whose licenses were suspended or revoked due to speeding.
The movement to use ISA in the US really took off in New York, though. Last year, Senator Andrew Gounardes introduced Stop Super Speeders, which would require drivers with 11 or more points in a certain period to install an ISA preventing them from going more than 5 miles per hour over the speed limit. Since then, several incidents have inspired increased action around it, including the deaths of a mother and her two daughters who were struck in the crosswalk by a driver with a suspended license. As of now, the bill is in the Senate Transportation Committee. But on Monday morning, New York City advocates, including some city council members, gathered outside City Hall to request that state legislators take action.
Per Spectrum News, Elizabeth Adams, the deputy executive director for public affairs at Transportation Alternatives, said at the gathering, “We are calling on Albany to pass the Stop Super Speeders Bill — common-sense legislation that takes the option to speed out of the hands of New York City’s most reckless drivers.”
Several other states have introduced their own anti-speeding legislation, including Georgia, where a bill is just waiting for the governor’s signature. But last year, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, vetoed the state’s bill because the National Highway Traffic Safety “is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates at this time risks disrupting these ongoing federal assessments.”
Of the remaining bills, Amy Cohen, head of Families for Safe Streets, which was instrumental in New York’s push, told Fast Company that they are all “a little bit different.” However, Cohen explained that they all boil down to, “We’re not taking your car away; we’re just saying that you can’t drive recklessly. You have to get to your destination safely, and not kill anyone along the way.”
There is a range of ISA systems available, including ones that only alert you if you’re speeding and others that can outright stop acceleration. In 2013, following its investigation of a Nevada crash with nine fatalities, the National Transportation Safety Board called on the NHTS to at least require the first of the two. It also asked car manufacturers to automatically install those systems in new vehicles, which isn’t impossible given that the European Union mandated it for all new cars last year.
At the time, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said, “We know the key to saving lives is redundancy, which can protect all of us from human error that occurs on our roads. What we lack is the collective will to act on NTSB safety recommendations.”
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