A California Democrat has proposed a bill he calls “groundbreaking” that would require all new cars sold in the Golden State to be equipped with a device that prevents them from going more than 16 miles per hour over the speed limit. did.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, this week introduced a package to urgently reduce speeding and fatal crashes on California roads. The package includes a provision requiring “new cars sold in California” to be “installed with a speed governor, a smart device that automatically limits speed.” Vehicle speed must be 16 mph over the legal speed limit. ”
“These changes are an attempt to address head-on the rapidly increasing number of vehicle fatalities across the United States, especially in California, as reckless driving increases since the start of the pandemic.” press release A representative from Wiener's office explained. “According to a recent report from TRIP, a national transportation research group, traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022, compared to a 19% increase in the U.S. as a whole. 4,400 Californians died in traffic accidents.”
The bill would “require trucks to have side underride guards to reduce the risk of cars and bicycles being pulled under the truck in the event of a collision,” and would “require state-owned road surfaces to improve pedestrian handling.” It also includes physical improvements such as new crosswalks and curb extensions for cyclists, the disabled community and transit users.
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California State Senator Scott Wiener. (Getty Images)
The press release claims these changes are aimed at “reducing” the “prevalence of traffic fatalities in California.”
“The alarming spike in road deaths is intolerable and requires urgent action,” Wiener said. “There is no way anyone would go faster than 100 miles per hour on a public road, yet in 2020 the California Highway Patrol issued more than 3,000 tickets for that violation alone. Preventing reckless speeding is completely ineffective. It's a common sense approach to preventing necessary and painful crashes. ”
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A view of the California State Capitol on February 1, 2023 in Sacramento. (Justin Sullivan/Justin Sullivan)
Not everyone is in favor of the bill, including social media users who expressed dissatisfaction with the plan.
“Imagine an empty highway in the middle of the night. You can only go until you're 65,” says author Richard Hanania. Posted in X.
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“Just when you thought California couldn't get any crazier,” said former San Diego County Board of Supervisors candidate Amy Reichert. Posted in X.
A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Fox News Digital that the agency “does not comment on pending legislation.”
