CA lawmakers propose a new car warning system for speeders

Some California lawmakers are aiming to physically stop your car from speeding.

Legislation as it was first introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) in January would require all new vehicles sold in California to be equipped with speed governors, smart devices that automatically limit the vehicle's speed to 10 miles above the legal limit.

To say the bill got pushback is an understatement.

"It did not go over well -- even though the concept has the backing of the National Transportation Safety Board," said KCBS Insider Phil Matier. "What it turned out to be was the minute this thing was proposed, you had Fox News and everybody climbing all over it saying this is another example of California's nanny state mentality. And even Governor Newsom saying, 'Hey, it's a presidential election year. I'm not sure we want to be driving in this lane right now.'"

Wiener decided to take the brakes off and suggested a warning system that would alert drivers instead of limiting vehicle speeds.

"But then they said, 'Well, what kind of warning system are you talking about here?' And some people said, 'Well, would it be like a continuous buzz that as long as you were riding over 10 miles over the limit, you would be getting screamed at by your car?' And that didn't go over well," Matier explained.

In the end, the legislation was amended to mandate that vehicles be equipped with a speed limit warning system that would "utilize visual and audio signals" to alert a heavy-footed driver if the speed of the vehicle is more than 5 MPH above the speed limit. It would apply to half of new vehicles by 2029 and all new vehicles by 2032.

The bill passed the Senate Transportation Committee 8-4 along party lines and now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Wiener said the legislation is necessary because road deaths are surging across the U.S. -- and especially in California -- amid a rise in reckless driving since the onset of the pandemic.

A recent report from TRIP, a national transportation research group, found that traffic fatalities in California have increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022, compared to 19% for the U.S. overall. In 2022, 4,400 Californians died in car crashes. The California Office of Traffic Safety's 2023 Traffic Safety Report also shows that one-third of all traffic fatalities in the state between 2017 and 2021 were speeding-related.

"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 30,000 tickets for just that offense. Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes."

Opponents of the bill have said repeated notifications to the driver would be distracting and potentially cause more crashes.