California is a state with the gravity to reshape the auto market as we know it. It’s led the country in emissions standards and is the birthplace of the modern push for EVs. But to implement basic measures against speeding? That’d be too complicated, according to the state’s governor, who has apparently vetoed a speeding alert bill on those very grounds.
Governor Gavin Newsom swatted down California’s speeding alert proposal, SB-961, on Saturday after the bill passed the state senate earlier this month, per the Associated Press. The measure would’ve required new cars to provide a short, single audiovisual cue when a car reaches 10 mph over the posted speed limit, starting in 2030. Vehicles would determine when to present the alert by comparing their current speed to a database of known limits, which would be gathered by the state. Exceptions would be provided for emergency vehicles, motorcycles, and scooters, but it’d otherwise be a step toward reducing California’s high rate of speeding fatalities—as if speeders weren’t already advantaged enough in California.
But Newsom vetoed the bill, on the basis that it would complicate the regulatory environment with state-specific safety tech laws.
“Federal law, as implemented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), already regulates vehicle safety standards,” Newsom said in a statement explaining his veto. “Adding California-specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines this longstanding federal framework. NHTSA is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates at this time risks disrupting these ongoing federal assessments.”
The governor’s rationale is that safety standards are the federal government’s domain (though states have the power to enforce higher standards) and that California’s own laws could make roll-out of the federal standards trickier. This is coming from a state that has had no problem imposing its own emissions standards for decades, yet is now digging in its heels when the tide is turning in favor of speeding restrictions.
Just last year, the National Transportation Safety Board reportedly recommended requiring speeding alerts to be instituted federally—alerts of the same kind California just declined. They’re already codified in Europe, which will require speeding alerts in new cars as soon as next summer. Maybe it’s unnecessary effort on California’s part if the standards truly are coming anyway, but it’s hard to imagine a more ironic way to pass the buck.
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