Proposed CA bill would electronically restrict cars from going 10mph over speed limit
Proposed CA bill would electronically restrict cars from going 10mph over speed limit
California Senator Scott Wiener is introducing a new set of bills to make streets safer across the state, including one that would change how you drive.
Just glossing over implementation. So every car will have to have wireless communications of some sort? Will there be some government system that all California cars will have to be integrated with that tracks where they are at all times so the car can know the correct speed limit? A tracking system that surely would never be abused or turned into a surveillance device.
"I don't think it's at all an overreach, and I don't think most people would view it as an overreach, we have speed limits, I think most people support speed limits because people know that speed kills," Wiener said.
Not unless they think about it for five seconds.
I am not a "muh freedom" guy, I don't drive more than 10 over anyway. But this is just logistically a bad way to stop speeding.
Where does my car get the current speed limit information? How and when does it update as speed limits change? Will school systems around the country have to submit a list of which days are "school days" for school zone speed limits?
What if the GPS registers you on the 30mph road below or next to the 70mph highway, long term or even for a momentary glitch? Who is at fault if that causes you to be in an accident?
I saw a video yesterday of cars fleeing the 2011 tsunami in Japan, I'm willing to bet those people exceeded 10mph over the posted speed limit trying to get away from the water.
Limiting the speed of the vehicles isn't going to improve driving skills or eliminate distractions. It isn't going to make people drive safer, just slower. I'm sure any situation where people need to go 10+ miles over the speed limit is going to be exceedingly rare and limited to things like fleeing forest fires or tsunamis, but limiting the speed isn't going to have a huge impact on accidents.
It could decrease fuel consumption and emissions though 🤷♂️.
But it still seems like a problem that could be solved with better enforcement.I actually quite dislike cars but this is fucking insane
Since a lot of discussion is happening around how they're going to implement this, and the article doesn't go into the details, here's more information: https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/20240124-senator-wiener-introduces-groundbreaking-bills-slash-california-road-deaths-epidemic
In line with NTSB recommendations, SB 961 requires every passenger vehicle, truck, and bus manufactured or sold in the state to be equipped with speed governors that limits the vehicle’s speed based on the speed limit for the roadway segment. The maximum speed threshold over the speed limit for that segment that the speed governor may permit the vehicle to travel at is 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. SB 961 also permits the vehicle operator to temporarily override the speed governor function. SB 961’s speed governor requirement does not apply to emergency vehicles.
And if anyone really wants to dive into it, the actual text for the bill is here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB961
Lots of people arguing about the practicality of this, or whether it can be done without invading privacy or slippery-sloping into mass surveillance.
The thing is: Even if it could be done perfectly — giving instant leeway when emergencies occur, being perfectly private forever, with perfectly accurate sensors — I still don’t think we’d want it.
That’s because laws are not just mechanical things. They are social things. When we put up a speed limit sign, it’s not just to configure a number in the driver’s mind. It’s to remind them to think about how they’re interacting with the community around them.
De-emphasizing that responsibility runs counter to this social purpose, which I think we intuitively understand at some level even if we reflexively bring out other claims in order to object to the policy.
Has Scott Wiener ever driven on a freeway with clear traffic?
would be a prohibitively expensive and complex system to implement and maintain, what an incredibly stupid idea.. even if every single person drove the exact same brand and model of car, it would be astronomically expensive to implement, and incalculably expensive to maintain.. a billionaire must have thought of it..
I'm currently in a rental that reads street signs and keeps the limit on the dash. Very handy for double-checking when you're suddenly not going the same speed as traffic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic-sign_recognition
What about if it was some type of close range radio signal or passive transmitter that communicates to your car when speed limits change?
Then again, when I was in Germany the car I rented had the posted speed limit displayed on the digital gauges. Maybe a GPS system that brings up the speed data for the road you're on.
OR, what about a visual camera system that limits the car to the posted signage?
So this reminds of this book I read called The Circle, in which everyone's fascination with technology and tracking and data collecting slippery-sloped at breakneck speed into 1984, except any stranger with an internet connection became your Big Brother.
We have many other environmental ways to encourage people to drive slower, like narrower lanes, or those long thin rumble-strip-style speed bumps, or landscaping with greenery.
BTW, why is it so hard to get information off google on traffic calming studies for freeways? Everything is about urban or suburban areas, smh. When I use "freeways" in quotes, suddenly I get a whole bunch of irrelevant results about people trying to get over their fear of driving on the freeway. Wtf google.
Oof. I generally am a supporter of Scott Wiener but this is not a winning issue. Mass transit, drugs, and lgbtq issues are his wheelhouse
Why not just make vehicles that can't do insane speeds?
I had a fucking 4-cylinder Ford Ranger from the 80's that topped out at 65mph. I don't mean the speedometer stopped at 65mph, the speedometer went to 80. I mean with the pedal fully floored, that's the fastest I could go.
This is a choice by automakers, just like the oversize way-too-tall child-killing truck hoods are too.
Just making a car that can't go that fast was always a solution and honestly, the fact that we just let automakers make cars that can go like 200mph when they're supposed to be "street legal" is a fucking joke and a half. Nobody needs that shit, but every chucklefuck who wants to bang a young woman thinks some sports car is how they're gonna do it. Fucking pathetic.
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How about also 50 km/h hard limit in city?
Gotta love the mindset that says “breaking the legal speed limit by 10mph is not enough !”
People speeding in your neighborhood is a rich people problem. Guess who's putting themselves first in their own legislation?
Limit it to repeat offenders, like the car breathalyzers for drunk drivers.
Good.
Why would you need a car that can go 200mph? Where are you going to use it? Oh yeah typically in school zones or some shit. If the limit is 50mph, ITS FOR A FUCKING REASON.
Also, US cites and states, START DESIGNING YOUR ROADS FOR THE SPEED YOU NEED. If you design a road next to a school like a highway, don't be surprised when people drive 70mph. This simple idea is used all over the place in the Netherlands and guess what? IT FUCKING WORKS BECAUSE IT MAKES FUCKING SENSE .
/rant
A speed limiter like this was proposed right when automobiles were coming into the mainstream. The world could be a very different place if regulations and restrictions like that had actually passed. I guess we can only dream...
Come on guys it is old technology, it will be soon the case in EU :
From july 2024 all new cars will have an intelligent GPS which prevents driver that the speed limit is exceeded (the gas pedal will be stronger). of course you can disable it, but you have to do it every time you start.
Can't wait to see drivers panic because they can't speed up in 30km/h areas (like around schools)
Edit for clarity: can't, not can. please respect people's lives in sensible areas (cities), be conscious that you can easily kill someone with your 1,5T armour. And speed up as much as you want on empty highways if you enjoy it
The funny thing is they could eliminate speeding pretty easily without having to make a single change to cars.
Put up a license plate reader at point a which logs the time the plate was read. Put up another one a couple of miles down the highway at point b when there are no possible ways to either get on or off.
Then the system can use the timestamps to determine The minimum speed the car must have been going to be able to make it from point a to point b. License plate data of cars that were exceeding the speed limit would be sent for review by human officers who can act accordingly.
This is fantastic! Fuck cops. If the cars can do the crime, then there's no need for speeding tickets.
I use Google Maps (Android Auto). It displays the speed limit. As long as the speed limit/road database is kept up to date, it works.
In a government version, the car could download maps/limits via radio. There was once a data delivery system that did just this using commercial radio stations. Then there's no tracking involved. Data delivery is one way. Bonus is that everyone would have updated maps with current road conditions.
Speed data could come from the car or be derived from GPS positioning. Then the car would warn the driver when they are over the limit for more than 15 seconds via lights or audio warnings. That allows for temporary increases in speed for safe passing without distraction.
If properly implemented, it could even be used to regulate traffic flow to avoid congestion. Do away with speed limit signs and their inherent maintenance cost. The limit is what's displayed on your dash.
This should cost no more than $30 for an add-on unit without a map display that provides only warnings and a speed limit readout. $50 if it has the map display (assuming the government sells it at cost). It could probably be done via app for all cars offering Android Auto/CarPlay.
Just fucking electronically limit the max speed to the maximum allowed in the country. That would solve most of the issues and work 100% of the time. Also, I don't care that in your fantasy scenario you have to race to a hospital at 100mph because someone cut of his head with chainsaw and there's no ambulance service.