California Bill Proposes 10-Mph Speed Limit Exceeded by Gov.

A California state senator has introduced a bill that would require the use of speed governors to prevent drivers from traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit. [The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the bill, introduced Wednesday by Senator Scott Wiener, R-San Francisco, would, if passed, make speed governors mandatory for the first time in California, beginning with the 2027 model year, and would require all vehicles manufactured and sold in California to have speed governors. It proposes to install speed governors on all vehicles manufactured and sold in California beginning with the 2027 model year.

The measure is seen as a way to curb traffic deaths, which increased in San Francisco and across the country during the pandemic, the San Francisco Chronicle noted. According to the National Safety Council, speed is a factor in about one-third of all traffic deaths in the United States.

Certain emergency vehicles, including ambulances and fire trucks, are exempt from the speed governor mandate. According to a bill fact sheet cited by the Chronicle, the California Highway Patrol would have the discretion to override a speed governor for a vehicle "if the use of that vehicle is reasonable and does not endanger public safety."

The bill also provides that trucks weighing 10,000 pounds or more manufactured, sold, or registered in California be equipped with side underride guards intended to prevent people or vehicles from getting under the vehicle in the event of a crash.

Similar legislation was proposed in the New York State Assembly in 2022, but failed to gain support. Last year, lawmakers in the state again proposed making speed limiters mandatory, but this time it was limited to drivers with multiple speed camera violations. Volvo, on the other hand, has installed speed limiters on all new cars since 2020, but the speed limit is 112 mph.