Californians may soon have their cars’ maximum speech capped at 80 miles per hour if an influential state senator gets his way. The lawmaker says the sharp rise in traffic deaths coupled with the lack of speeding violation enforcement requires that cars in the state be limited to certain speeds. 

“The alarming surge in road deaths is unbearable and demands an urgent response,” said state senator Scott Wiener. “There is no reason for anyone to be going over 100 miles per hour on a public road, yet in 2020, the 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.” 

His legislation, The Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets Act — or SB 961 — would require all California cars be equipped with “speed limiters” or “speed governors” that cap the vehicles speed at 80 miles per hour. The maximum posted speed limit in the state is 70 miles per hour, so one could only drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit under this proposal. 

The legislation, if adopted, would apply to all model years beginning in just 2027. It would also allow drivers to temporarily disable their speed limiters, and would not apply to California emergency vehicles. 

Mr. Wiener says the 4,400 deaths in California in 2022 caused by car crashes are preventable, and this legislation would help save lives. While car crash deaths increased 19 percent nationwide between 2019 and 2022, that same number increased by 22 percent in California over that same period. 

The law is aimed at not just making the highways safer, but also making the state more pedestrian-friendly. “Many state-owned roads across the state need to be improved to accommodate all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and public transit riders,” Mr. Wiener says. “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.”