Being able to drive is a necessity in most of America, and having a car is a requirement for many of us. Breaking the law behind the wheel, though, can jeopardize that privileged opportunity and one’s ability to get to work, with state governments capable of revoking licenses for some offenses. However, a newly proposed law in Virginia could give the state another mechanism to punish certain reckless drivers: in-car speed limiters.
HB 2096 establishes the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program in Virginia, which will be an alternative to suspending a person’s driver’s license if they’re convicted of certain speed-related offenses and have accumulated a certain number of points. The proposed legislation requires a court to order a driver to enroll in the program if the person is convicted of reckless driving and was driving over 100 miles per hour.
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The law would require the person to install the device on every vehicle the person owns or has registered and would prohibit the person from driving a car that doesn’t have such a system. It would also be a misdemeanor to tamper with or bypass such systems, which the person must pay for themselves. If approved, the law would go into effect in July 2026, making it the first state for such a program.
According to The Washington Post, Washington DC passed similar legislation in 2024, and other states today are considering similar laws. New York is one such state. Passive speed limiters are designed to warn drivers when they exceed the posted limit. There are active systems that outright prevent a driver from speeding, which seems to be the version the Virginia law wants.
The House and Senate versions of the bill state that a speed limiter is one “that limits the speed at which a motor vehicle is capable of traveling based on the applicable speed limit where such motor vehicle is being operated.”
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California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed one bill that would have required cars in the state to have passive speed limiters installed that would have beeped at drivers if they exceeded the speed limit. The European Union already requires the technology in new cars, which is part of the bloc’s effort to reduce speeding and speeding-related crashes and deaths.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 12,151 people died in 2022 in the US in speeding-related crashes. Drivers aged 15-20 had the highest rate of fatalities related to speeding that year.
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Source: The Washington Post, CBS6 Albany