Speeding has become so normalized on American roads, even motorists who attest to “driving like a turtle” aren’t fazed when a vehicle occasionally zips by as if it’s competing in the Indianapolis 500.
Drowsy driving, activities that lead to distracted driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol are rightly considered very or extremely dangerous by many Americans. But speeding is viewed as less risky, and it’s a behavior many readily admit to engaging in on residential roads and freeways, according to a recent survey by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
But this need for speed is deadly: Speeding contributed to one-third of driving deaths in the country in 2021, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Illinois, in particular, had the fourth highest number of speeding-related fatalities — 487 — that year.
With no signs that speeding is slowing down, the NTSB is recommending that automakers install speed reducing technology that, at the very least, alerts drivers if they are going too fast. It’s a move we support.
There will always be some drivers who have no regard for their passengers or others on the road. Neither a scared traveling companion nor a computer could convince these speed demons to ease up on the accelerator. But most drivers with a tendency to go over the speed limit would probably obey the rules of the road if they were given a nudge.
Safety features, including air bags, forward-collision systems, automatic emergency braking and backup cameras were nonexistent in cars decades ago. They have since proven they have the potential to save lives, and many drivers are thankful they exist. Requiring automakers to fit their products with another mechanism that could prevent more injuries — something like the seatbelt alarms that have become a standard feature — is a practical step.
The European Union will require vehicles be equipped with intelligent speed assistance starting in July. And so far, research in that region has concluded that such technology does work.
“Speed warning systems can be especially effective to counteract unintentional speeding caused by inattention over the control of speed,” a 2020 report published in European Transport Research Review concluded.
Another study conducted in the U.K. found that drivers are open to such technology if it allows them choice and control — concerns that drivers in the Chicago area also expressed when speaking with the Sun-Times.
If the technology imposed is more than a notice to drivers and makes speeding difficult or impossible, motorists should be able to override the system if they have to quickly escape a dangerous situation.
“I don’t love anything that restricts your ability to get out of a situation,” as 27-year-old Coleman Connolly, of Edgewater, told reporter Isabel Funk.
Because many intelligent speed assistance systems use GPS to track cars’ locations in real time, laws also must be put in place to protect privacy.
That isn’t a big ask.
Steps should be taken to ensure that any proposal “aimed at public safety or personal convenience does not become a tool for surveillance and tracking,” a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says.
The NTSB came up with the recommendation for cars to have speed reducing technology following its investigation into a deadly Las Vegas crash that claimed the lives of nine people in 2022.
“This crash is the latest in a long line of tragedies we’ve investigated where speeding and impairment led to catastrophe, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
No it doesn’t.
Unless you’re a race car driver, burning rubber behind the wheel shouldn’t be an option. Ultimately, drivers are responsible for their actions. But if car is engineered to help keep many of them from driving recklessly, we’ll be a big step further on making our roads much safer.
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