In January 2022, a Dodge Challenger, traveling at speeds exceeding 100 mph (160 km/h), ran a red light and collided with a minivan. Tragically, this accident resulted in the loss of nine lives. After a thorough investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that regulators mandate speed limiters in new vehicles to help reduce the occurrence of similar incidents. Now, additional safety organizations are joining this call for the introduction of technology to mitigate speeding.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which conducts independent crash tests and studies automotive safety, in addition to other members of the Road to Zero Coalition are urging automakers and regulators to promote intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology as well as speed limiters in new vehicles.
“Speeding causes more than a quarter of all crash deaths every year, accounting for more than 12,000 lost lives in 2021,” said Jessica Cicchino, vice president of research at IIHS. “In-vehicle technologies can be an important part of the solution.”
Read: Crash With 9 Fatalities Might Lead To Speed-Limiting Features In All New Cars
The coalition points to Europe, where ISA will be mandatory on new vehicles starting in 2024. The technology uses GPS and camera technology to determine the prevailing speed limit, and warn drivers when they are driving too fast.
Some systems even incorporate ISA into a dynamic speed limiter, reducing engine power once a vehicle starts traveling faster than the speed limit. Other systems simply prevent a vehicle from exceeding a preset maximum speed.
However, the IIHS and other members of the Road to Zero Coalition only want warning-based technology to be mandated in American vehicles for now. They call this a starting point, and are calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to set performance standards for this technology, and require that new vehicles warn drivers if they are speeding.
In addition, the IIHS recommends that the vehicles of frequent speeders be equipped with aftermarket ISA systems that reduce power to a vehicle’s engine once it crosses a speed threshold. It also suggests that this would be useful for teens, who are more likely than other groups to be speeding when they are involved in a crash.
