On Wednesday, California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Fransisco) introduced a slate of proposed legislation, all under the guise of highway safety, including one measure that would limit any vehicle's ability to go more than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. Senate Bill 961, which was part of a package named the Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets, or SAFER California Streets, would require all vehicles manufactured and sold in California to have a speed governor or limiter installed that would restrict the vehicle's speed to 10 mph above the legal limit.
According to Wiener's press release regarding his slate of bills, he states that a third of the traffic deaths in California from 2017 to 2021 were caused by speeding. The data provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety on page 36 states that between 2017 and 2021, speed-related deaths account for roughly one-third of the total deaths for each calendar year. Wiener uses this as his justification for introducing SB961, along with the rest of the bills in the SAFER California Streets package.
The specifics of SB961, on the surface, appear innocent enough, but when you take a deeper dive into it and read between the lines, you should be concerned about a few things. First off, we do not know the specific costs of the bill. For example, no projected costs related to enforcement and or implementation of the law are included. Additionally, the text of the bill only describes the intent and language of the new vehicle code; it makes no mention of methods of enforcement, punishments for violations (other than listing them as criminal offenses), etc.
The most important piece of information that is missing is how Wiener, and by definition, the state, intends to implement an enforcement mechanism. Meaning: How do they intend to be able to initiate the speed governor or limiter when the vehicle goes more than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit? If passed, will the state then begin construction on all roads and highways to emplace equipment that is capable of electronically monitoring the roads and highways, with the additional ability to wirelessly disable a vehicle's throttle? According to Wiener's press release, he mentions what the limiters are and how they function. The parts in bold should concern you.
Speed governors, also referred to as speed limiters or Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), are vehicle technologies that prevent vehicles from exceeding a certain speed. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) refers to systems that use GPS technology and sometimes on-board cameras to determine the speed limit on a specific roadway, issuing driver warnings through audio, visual, or vibration signals and/or limiting vehicle speeds accordingly.
It means that the Big Daddy government will have the ability to constantly monitor your vehicle's speed AND LOCATION — at all times. Now, this may not seem like a big deal for some, but it is a big deal for me, knowing that the government knows where I am in my vehicle at all times. I will concede the point that while I am in public, on a public road or highway, I do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Meaning that anybody can see me and my vehicle, including an officer of the law. They can all see how slow or fast I am driving, and at any time, if an officer of the law sees a violation, they can stop me to conduct an investigation and then send me on my way. The point is that this is all just temporary, whereas a GPS monitor in your vehicle would be the same thing as someone on probation or house arrest wearing a GPS monitor; it is constant and unending. When asked about his legislation, Wiener said what any politician would say about government surveillance laws — it's not an overreach at all; these are simply "commonsense actions" for public safety.
"I don't think it's at all an overreach, and I don't think most people would view it as an overreach, we have speed limits, I think most people support speed limits because people know that speed kills."
When they say it's not an overreach, it is most definitely an overreach. Because even while the engine is off, some modern vehicles' electrical systems are passively monitoring things. Most modern GPS tracking units have an internal capacitor to keep them in a passive state, even after power is cut off, to remain discoverable by satellites. Modern cell phones also have this ability, as long as there is power in the battery, even while powered off, the phone can and does broadcast and receive location information from GPS systems in short bursts. Meaning that the state will possibly have the capability, if the law passes, to know where you are at all times, even if you aren't driving. That is, by definition, an overreach.
I understand that speed can and does cause serious bodily injury and or death. High speeds are inherently dangerous and come with their inherent risks when abused. Deaths caused by speed are almost always a byproduct of inexperience, ignorance of the weather and/or traffic conditions that made the speed unsafe — or a blatant criminal or negligent act. In plain speak, it's almost always people who are driving way beyond their abilities or experience, they are drunk/high, or they are running from the police.
It all boils down to the point of being free from government surveillance when I am driving my vehicle. I do not trust the state, or the federal government for that matter, to not abuse the abilities and capabilities of this bill if it were to become law. Time and time again, the government has shown that it will abuse the law, or at the very least, push the boundaries of the law, to achieve a goal of their making. This is just one more law that makes Big Daddy government that much bigger and that much more abusive.