Newsom urged to sign bill to require speeding alert systems on cars

Groups fighting for safer roads are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill requiring new vehicles to have a speed-monitoring system to warn drivers when they go more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Senate Bill 961 has already passed both houses of the state Legislature.

Marc Vukcevich, director of state policy for the advocacy organization Streets for All, said pedestrian deaths are epidemic.

“Pedestrian deaths have increased 68% since 2011,” Vukcevich pointed out. “With traffic violence as a whole being the number one cause of death for all people from the age of five to 44 in the state of California.”

Several big car manufacturers have come out in opposition to the bill, arguing the warnings could annoy and distract drivers. The change would only apply to new cars sold after 2030 and would add an estimated $60 to $100 to the cost of a car.

Vukcevich noted if drivers slow down even a few miles per hour, it would greatly reduce both the number of accidents and the suffering and death that result.

“The actual physical effect of getting hit by a car at that speed is substantially different from, let’s say, 23 to 30 miles per hour,” Vukcevich pointed out. “It’s really a substantial difference on how likely someone actually lives or dies.”

The European Union has already passed a similar measure. California would be the first state in the U.S. to require speed-warning systems.

Written by Suzanne Potter, Producer, Public News Service