PD Editorial: Tap the brakes on state speed law

State Sen. Scott Wiener wants all cars sold in the state starting with the 2027 model year to limit drivers to no more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit. His colleagues should give his bill a hard no.

If the San Francisco Democrat gets his way, new cars would correlate GPS data with speed limits on roads, and a governor would stop heavy-footed drivers from going too fast. This isn’t novel technology. Most vehicles sold today can show the current speed limit on the dash or in apps like Waze and Google Maps.

Sure, the speed limit is the law, and people shouldn’t speed excessively. But that doesn’t mean California needs to go all nanny state about it. Besides, if the point is that people should obey the law, why allow any speed above the posted limit?

The biggest problems with Senate Bill 961 aren’t libertarian, though. They’re practical. The technology isn’t ready, and there are cases when going a little faster for a few seconds or minutes makes sense.

Most drivers with GPS maps have experienced a moment when the car gets confused. Cruising down the highway, it might suddenly think that it’s on the adjacent access road or the road under an overpass. The navigation freaks out and the posted speed limit drops to 35 mph. If that happens and the governor slams on the breaks, the result could be catastrophic.

There are also circumstances when a burst of speed is required. Safely and efficiently passing multiple trucks might require briefly going more than 10 mph for a moment. Likewise, if a hazardous situation unexpectedly occurs ahead, a little extra speed can mean the difference between becoming part of an accident and accelerating out of harm’s way.

Speed kills, and more people seem to be driving too fast these days, even on local streets. The solution, however, isn’t a heavy-handed mandate that surely would send a lot of car shoppers out of state.

Instead, California should use the tools it already has. Pay for more police officers or move them from other duties to ticket fast drivers. The state also is experimenting with speed cameras in some cities, which might scare ticket-averse drivers into letting up on the gas.

Let the free market work, too. Many insurers offer safe-driving discounts to customers who install a black box in their vehicle or app on their phone. The technology monitors speed and other driving habits. Motorists who stay within parameters insurers deem safe pay less. Some insurers advertise up to 30% savings. That’s a real incentive to slow down.

Some carmakers already provide the ability to set maximum speeds or an alert for when a driver goes more than a certain amount over the limit. They might be optional, but they are handy and would become more so if police started ticketing more speeders.

Efforts to make roads safer are worthwhile. Wiener has introduced another bill, SB 960, that would require infrastructure improvements on state-owned streets to make them better for pedestrians, cyclists, people with disabilities and transit users. That’s a smarter approach than capping how fast cars can go and infuriating already rage-prone drivers.

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