An increasing variety of states are considering using speed-limiting devices to rein in drivers who feel the necessity for speed, and Illinois is the most recent to think about such a measure. WAND reports that the amended House Bill 4948 has passed with a unanimous vote by the House Judiciary Criminal Committee, and is moving on to the House floor.
Under this bill, Illinois drivers convicted of two qualifying driving offenses in a yr can be required to put in speed limiters of their vehicles. “A qualifying offense is a conviction or order of court supervision for excessive speeding over 25 miles per hour over the limit or reckless driving,” Rep. Martha Deuter, who sponsored the bill, told WAND. Moreover, the offender’s standard driver’s license can be suspended, but they’d be eligible for a special permit that will only allow them to drive vehicles with an approved speed limiter installed. They might even be required to have a speed limiter installed on their very own automotive inside 14 days.
The bill itself acknowledges that “roughly 75% of drivers with suspended licenses proceed to drive, creating ongoing public safety risks, as documented in research published by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.” I even have to wonder, if 75 percent of drivers are violating a law, why even have it? Deuter addressed this on the Illinois House Democratic Caucus website, where she said:
“In the US, a automotive is not just a approach to get around, it’s the important thing to economic mobility,” Deuter said. “By switching our enforcement mechanisms to be proactive relatively than reactive, we’re in a position to construct a more equitable system that holds super speeders accountable while still allowing them to go to work, visit their families and be a part of their communities.”
Addressing concerns
The Illinois laws directly addresses a number of the issues we have identified before relating to speed limiter regulations. The most important one is the associated fee, which the people required to have these devices would ostensibly must pay. It might cost anywhere from $100 to $250 for the device and its installation, there can be a subscription fee for the speed limiting service, plus $30 a month to the state’s Intelligent Speed Assistance Permit Fee Fund — all paid by the motive force. Nevertheless, if the motive force is said indigent, they’d receive the device and repair at no charge. Illinois defines an indigent person as being on public assistance (Social Security, SNAP, etc.) or having income below 125 percent of the poverty level. That model has some upsides for drivers who qualify, but it surely doesn’t help members of the shrinking middle class, who make an excessive amount of to qualify for aid, but not enough to essentially afford the speed-limiting devices.
Data privacy is one other concern, and the Illinois bill does its best to deal with that, too. The bill defines what information is allowed to be collected, which is restricted to data mandatory to perform the duty of effective speed limiting, plus tamper prevention and malfunction reporting. Location data “shall be retained just for compliance verification, not for general location tracking.” Finally, data can only be held for 90 days, at which point it have to be deleted. That is a fairly thorough set of standards, and impressive considering how often privacy laws falls short.
Thus far, Virginia has passed its proposed speed limiter law, together with Washington state and Washington, D.C. Five more states, including Illinois, have such laws within the works. What’s more, the National Traffic Safety Board has advisable the mandatory adoption of speed limiters nationwide, no matter driving records. That advice seems to have stalled, but this could possibly be the start of a trend on a state-by-state basis.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
