As a result of increasing traffic fatalities, largely due to speeding, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has asked the public its opinion on whether or not we as a country should explore requiring speed limiting technology in U.S. cars. Intelligence Speed Assistance (ISA) is technology that automatically limits drivers to the posted speed limit using GPS technology. In July, it became mandatory that ISA be installed in new vehicles in Europe.
In the United States where traffic deaths are many times higher than Europe, NHTSA is signaling that adoption is very possible in the distant future potentially over the next 10 years.
Speeding is accepted as part of driving in America. Drivers seem to have forgotten how dangerous it is. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in an average year, about 10,000 people are killed in speed-related crashes.
Additionally, there’s an obscure passage in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will require that automakers install anti-drunk driving technology as a standard feature in all new cars. These systems can detect when a driver is intoxicated and disable the vehicle. Coincidentally, drunk driving causes about 10,000 deaths a year in the United States as well, according to CDC estimates.
For those who have fairly new vehicles, technology is available that uses and detects distraction and nudges drivers’ eyes back to the road and hands back to the steering wheel if they removed their hands for too long, which is actually just a few seconds.
According to NHTSA, the United States has been resistant to using speed limiting technology even in commercial trucks. According to NHTSA, the time has come to rethink traffic enforcement and vehicle safety technology.
How will this impact your life? Is it a freedom or a right that is being removed? Is the greater good of saving lives worth removing your freedoms? Please let us know your thoughts on this important matter.