California might follow the European Union’s example by making it a rule for all new cars to warn drivers when they go over the speed limit. This idea is meant to lower the number of accidents on the road and could affect drivers across the whole country if it becomes law.
Currently, the federal government sets the safety rules for cars everywhere in the U.S. That’s why most cars beep if you don’t put on your seatbelt. Now, there’s a bill in California that just passed its first vote in the state Senate. If it becomes law, by 2032, all new cars sold in California would beep if the driver goes over the speed limit by at least 10 miles per hour.
State Senator Scott Wiener, who wrote the bill, says studies show this can make people slow down, especially since some don’t realize how fast they’re going.
The bill passed with a small margin, showing it might face challenges. Some senators, like Brian Dahle, voted against it. He thinks sometimes people need to drive faster than the speed limit in emergencies. He called the bill a “nanny state” idea.
Even though the goal is to make roads safer, this law could affect new car sales across the whole country. That’s because California is such a big market for cars that car companies would probably just follow California’s rules for all their cars.
California often sets its own rules, which can influence policies nationwide and even globally. For example, California has its own rules for car emissions, and many other states follow those rules too. When California said it would eventually stop selling new gas-powered cars, major car companies said they would do the same.
The technology this bill talks about, called intelligent speed assistance, uses GPS to check a car’s speed against the speed limit. If the car goes at least 10 miles per hour over the limit, it will make a brief sound and show a warning to the driver.
This technology isn’t new and has been used in Europe for years. Starting this year, the European Union will require all new cars sold there to have this technology. But in Europe, drivers can turn it off if they want.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10% of all car crashes reported to the police in 2021 were because of speeding. This included an 8% increase in speeding-related deaths. In California, 35% of traffic deaths were because of speeding, the second highest rate in the country.
Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that all new cars should alert drivers when they’re speeding. They made this recommendation after a crash where a driver, who had a history of speeding, ran a red light at over 100 miles per hour and hit another car, killing himself and eight other people. However, the NTSB can only make suggestions, not laws.
