Posted on 01/19/2024 10:44:07 PM PST by ransomnote
California bill would mandate all new cars have device to ‘automatically limit’ speed to 10 mph over limit
Excerpt:
SACRAMENTO – Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced the Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets (SAFER California Streets) Package, Senate Bills 960 & 961, a first-in-the-nation effort to make California roads safe and accessible to all users. Senate Bill 961 requires changes to vehicles directly, including a first-in-the-nation requirement that all new vehicles sold in California install speed governors, smart devices that automatically limit the vehicle’s speed to 10 miles above the legal limit. SB 961 also requires side underride guards on trucks, to reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath the truck during a crash.
Senate Bill 960 requires that Caltrans, the state transportation agency, make physical improvements like new crosswalks and curb extensions on state-owned surface streets to better accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, the disability community, and transit users.
These changes are a head-on attempt to tackle vehicle fatalities, which 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 rise in road deaths in the U.S. is a sharp contrast with reduced road fatalities across the developed world. A recent investigation by the New York Times found that “if the U.S. had made as much progress reducing vehicle crashes as other high-income countries had over the past two decades, about 25,000 fewer Americans would die every year.” Other nations are making progress to protect road users, while in the U.S. the problem grows steadily worse.
“The alarming surge in road deaths is unbearable and demands an urgent response,” said Senator Wiener. “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 3,000 tickets for just that offense. Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes.”
“Additionally, many state-owned roads across the state need to be improved to accommodate all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and public transit riders. State roads — which are often main streets in smaller towns — should be safe for anyone wishing to walk, bike, or wait for the bus – and we can do a lot better by requiring things like crosswalks, bike lanes, rapid bus lanes, and safe bus stops. Instead of leading the rise in traffic fatalities, California should be leading the nation in reducing needless deaths on our roadways. The SAFER California Streets Package allows us to reclaim that leadership for a safer and more sustainable future.”
.....Speed governors will be required in all vehicles sold in the EU beginning July of this year. The devices must warn drivers when they have surpassed the legal speed limit of a specific roadway through alarms or accelerator resistance.
In the United States, multiple local jurisdictions – including Ventura County – have implemented aftermarket conversions of speed governors on their vehicle fleets. The New York City Department of City Administrative Services launched a pilot program in 2022, outfitting 50 vehicles in its vehicle fleet with speed governors. The NTSB has identified 18 major vehicle manufacturers – including Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan USA – that offer some form of speed governors on at least some vehicle models in the United States. With strengthened EU regulations set to go into effect in July 2024, it is likely that equipping vehicles with the technology as an optional feature in the United States will become the norm.
In line with NTSB recommendations, SB 961 requires every passenger vehicle, truck, and bus manufactured or sold in the state to be equipped with speed governors that limits the vehicle’s speed based on the speed limit for the roadway segment. The maximum speed threshold over the speed limit for that segment that the speed governor may permit the vehicle to travel at is 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. SB 961 also permits the vehicle operator to temporarily override the speed governor function. SB 961’s speed governor requirement does not apply to emergency vehicles.
.....Underride crashes are collisions involving cars and large trucks where the car slides under the body of the truck during the collision. Due to the point of impact for such collisions often being the hood or windshield of the car, such crashes are especially deadly.
.....SB 961 requires every truck with a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 10,000 pounds manufactured, sold, or registered in the state to be equipped with functional side guards on both lateral sides of the vehicle. The bill requires the side guard to be able to provide crash protection for mid-size vehicles colliding with a trailer at up to 40 miles per hour.
SB 961 also directs the CHP to require inspection by the department of the side guards of any vehicle involved in a collision impacting the side guards, and require vehicle drivers to conduct regular inspections of side guards for damage and functionality and replace damaged units as necessary.....
I think it needs to be made explicit for those who don’t understand the Constitution.
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It needs to be clarified, probably by a SANE Supreme Court. Plus the definition of “Natural Born Citizen”.
PS - I’ve read that no other country in the world gives instant citizenship to offspring of foreigners living in that country.
List of Air National Guard Squadrons.
SpyNavy
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there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness.
The more of it one has the more one wants.
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Thank you, it’s there!
My National Guard has F16’s and is converting to F35’s.
Nite lj, stay safe and well.
Me trying to eat healthy!!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1736750123839840290
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