Just glossing over implementation. So every car will have to have wireless communications of some sort? Will there be some government system that all California cars will have to be integrated with that tracks where they are at all times so the car can know the correct speed limit? A tracking system that surely would never be abused or turned into a surveillance device.

"I don't think it's at all an overreach, and I don't think most people would view it as an overreach, we have speed limits, I think most people support speed limits because people know that speed kills," Wiener said.

Not unless they think about it for five seconds.

I am not a "muh freedom" guy, I don't drive more than 10 over anyway. But this is just logistically a bad way to stop speeding.

Where does my car get the current speed limit information? How and when does it update as speed limits change? Will school systems around the country have to submit a list of which days are "school days" for school zone speed limits?

What if the GPS registers you on the 30mph road below or next to the 70mph highway, long term or even for a momentary glitch? Who is at fault if that causes you to be in an accident?

What about in an emergency? What is someone needs to go over that limit for evasive maneuvers or something?

I get it, people speed, but put the cameras up and just fine them. That’s all.

I saw a video yesterday of cars fleeing the 2011 tsunami in Japan, I'm willing to bet those people exceeded 10mph over the posted speed limit trying to get away from the water.
Limiting the speed of the vehicles isn't going to improve driving skills or eliminate distractions. It isn't going to make people drive safer, just slower. I'm sure any situation where people need to go 10+ miles over the speed limit is going to be exceedingly rare and limited to things like fleeing forest fires or tsunamis, but limiting the speed isn't going to have a huge impact on accidents.
It could decrease fuel consumption and emissions though 🤷‍♂️.
But it still seems like a problem that could be solved with better enforcement.

I actually quite dislike cars but this is fucking insane

Authoritarian nonsense.

Ah. No thanks. New cars already bend us over a barrel for our data. I don't need you monitoring me 24/7 on my speed and location. I like the side guards on semis idea though. Run with that one, Wiener.

How about let people actually own the fucking car they purchase

This tech should be developed and used to stop chase vehicles. Also if it is used to stop people from going 10 over then we shouldn't have cops checking people's speed anymore.

Sounds like a roundabout way to track everyone

10mph over? Have they driven on CA freeways? The vast majority of traffic is moving at 15+ mph over.

This will cause traffic slow downs and more road rage.

Since a lot of discussion is happening around how they're going to implement this, and the article doesn't go into the details, here's more information: https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/20240124-senator-wiener-introduces-groundbreaking-bills-slash-california-road-deaths-epidemic

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.

And if anyone really wants to dive into it, the actual text for the bill is here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB961

Lots of people arguing about the practicality of this, or whether it can be done without invading privacy or slippery-sloping into mass surveillance.

The thing is: Even if it could be done perfectly — giving instant leeway when emergencies occur, being perfectly private forever, with perfectly accurate sensors — I still don’t think we’d want it.

That’s because laws are not just mechanical things. They are social things. When we put up a speed limit sign, it’s not just to configure a number in the driver’s mind. It’s to remind them to think about how they’re interacting with the community around them.

De-emphasizing that responsibility runs counter to this social purpose, which I think we intuitively understand at some level even if we reflexively bring out other claims in order to object to the policy.

Old cars for the win!

Isn't that just going to cause accidents? For all the non regulated cars on the highway, what happens if you need to merge into a lane where the flow of traffic is faster than the speed limit? It doesn't even have to be a highway, but lane changes in any city can have that problem I imagine.

Has Scott Wiener ever driven on a freeway with clear traffic?

What about if it was some type of close range radio signal or passive transmitter that communicates to your car when speed limits change?

Then again, when I was in Germany the car I rented had the posted speed limit displayed on the digital gauges. Maybe a GPS system that brings up the speed data for the road you're on.

OR, what about a visual camera system that limits the car to the posted signage?

I'm currently in a rental that reads street signs and keeps the limit on the dash. Very handy for double-checking when you're suddenly not going the same speed as traffic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic-sign_recognition

would be a prohibitively expensive and complex system to implement and maintain, what an incredibly stupid idea.. even if every single person drove the exact same brand and model of car, it would be astronomically expensive to implement, and incalculably expensive to maintain.. a billionaire must have thought of it..

This is a good idea if they only put it in public service government issue cars.

I heard that some countries have zero leeway for speed limit trespassing, like if it says 100 and you go 101 that's a fine time. I don't understand why that's not the case in other places, why not increase the limit by that 10 mph/kmph you allow now and stop allowing speeding at all

Oof. I generally am a supporter of Scott Wiener but this is not a winning issue. Mass transit, drugs, and lgbtq issues are his wheelhouse

So this reminds of this book I read called The Circle, in which everyone's fascination with technology and tracking and data collecting slippery-sloped at breakneck speed into 1984, except any stranger with an internet connection became your Big Brother.

We have many other environmental ways to encourage people to drive slower, like narrower lanes, or those long thin rumble-strip-style speed bumps, or landscaping with greenery.

BTW, why is it so hard to get information off google on traffic calming studies for freeways? Everything is about urban or suburban areas, smh. When I use "freeways" in quotes, suddenly I get a whole bunch of irrelevant results about people trying to get over their fear of driving on the freeway. Wtf google.