California Legislature Advances Bill for Speed Limit Alerts in New Vehicles

A new California bill aims to require all new cars sold by 2032 to alert drivers exceeding speed limits by 10 mph. The legislation, which has passed its first Senate vote, seeks to reduce speed-related accidents and fatalities.

Constant beeps and alerts from vehicles can be quite frustrating, and Californian drivers may soon experience this annoyance if a new bill in the California Legislature passes. The bill aims to require all new cars sold in California by 2032 to notify drivers when they exceed the posted speed limit by 10 mph. This bill, which first emerged in January, has now passed its initial Senate vote.

If enacted, the legislation would mandate that 50% of new cars in California come equipped with this feature by 2029. The system would use audiovisual alerts to notify drivers and encourage them to reduce their speed. Emergency vehicles would be exempt from this requirement. This move follows the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendation for an intelligent speed assistance system that uses GPS, vehicle cameras, and a database of speed limits to help reduce speeding.

The bill’s author, State Senator Scott Wiener, argues that the system will effectively reduce speed-related crashes and road deaths. «Research has shown that this does have an impact in getting people to slow down, particularly since some people don’t realize how fast their car is going,» said Wiener. Notably, Volvo has already limited the top speed of its new vehicles to 112 mph, across models ranging from the entry-level XC40 to the top-spec XC90.

Speeding is a significant factor in fatal crashes, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reporting that 12,000 people died in speed-related crashes in 2021. In California, about 35% of all traffic deaths are linked to speeding. «These deaths are preventable, and they’re occurring because of policy choices to tolerate dangerous roads,» Wiener added.

However, not everyone is in favor of the bill. Senator Brian Dahle opposed it, arguing that people sometimes need to exceed the speed limit in emergencies. «It’s just a nanny state that we’re causing here,» he said. There is also concern that consumers may hold onto older vehicles or buy new cars before the law takes effect to avoid the new system’s beeping alerts.

This technology isn’t new; it has been available in Europe for some time, and new EU legislation will require all new vehicles to have this feature, though drivers can disable it if they find it intrusive. Should the bill pass, automakers will need to adapt their vehicles to comply. California’s adoption of such measures often sets a trend for other states, much like the controversial 2035 ban on internal combustion engines.