California Bill Would Stop Cars Going 10mph Over Limit

A California state senator has introduced draft legislation that would compel car manufacturers to install limiters to stop new vehicles going 10 miles beyond the local speed limit.

On Wednesday, Scott Wiener, whose jurisdiction includes San Francisco, announced two bills that are intended to make California's streets safer, and which also include provisions for improving roads for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as changes to how trucks are constructed to prevent other motorists being pulled underneath them.

But one element described as being the first of its kind in the U.S. was the requirement that new vehicles sold in the state from 2027 be fitted with "speed governors," smart devices that automatically register the posted speed limit and prevent a driver from exceeding it by more than 10 miles an hour.

"The alarming surge in road deaths is unbearable and demands an urgent response," Wiener said in a statement. "There is no reason for anyone to be going over 100 miles per hour on a public road, yet in 2020, California Highway Patrol issued over 3,000 tickets for just that offense."

"Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes."

His office added that the move had already been recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, and that speed governors had already been installed in some American-made models.

Legislation to require new cars to be fitted with the devices from this year has already been implemented in the European Union and United Kingdom, and they are expected to become a global industry standard.

However, critics will likely see the policy as an attempt to use emerging technology to force Americans to behave a certain way on the road—even if it is denying them the freedom to drive unsafely and break the law.

"Mandating speed-limiting controls on all vehicles, when the vast majority of drivers are not reckless, is just simply government overreach," Republican state Senator Roger Niello, also Transportation Committee vice chair, told Newsweek. "The solution is more law enforcement on our streets with severe consequences to those who show complete disregard for traffic laws."

Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told the Los Angeles Times that he opposed the draft legislation on the basis it might not necessarily make roads safer, instead calling for increased police monitoring.

"There are times drivers may want to speed up enough to switch lanes, to move away from certain unsafe situations," he said. "Our preference is for drivers to have the maximum ability to do that. We don't think technology or even most well-intentioned regulations should obstruct that."

Newsweek approached Wiener's office via email for comment on Friday.

Wiener told local press that he acknowledged there would be pushback to the legislation, but noted that speed governors were already in use elsewhere and that a rise in traffic-related deaths in California called for radical steps.

"I don't think it's at all an overreach, and I don't think most people would view it as an overreach," he told news station KGO. "We have speed limits, I think most people support speed limits because people know that speed kills."

The draft bill would exempt emergency services from using speed governors.

Update 1/26/24, 4:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include further information.

Update 1/29/24, 3:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from California state Senator Roger Niello.