Over the weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed S.B. 961 which would have enacted a first-in-the-nation requirement that all new vehicles sold in California install a device that would alert drivers with a beep or ping when they are going ten miles over the speed limit. Ironically, it was the opportunity to lead on safety that made Newsom balk.
“...the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) already regulates vehicle safety standards, and adding California specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines this longstanding federal framework,” the Governor wrote in his veto statement.
“NHTSA is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates at this time risks disrupting these ongoing federal assessments.”
This logic was roundly rejected by Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced the legislation, and by safety advocates from his Bay Area District and beyond.
“The evidence is clear: Rising levels of dangerous speeding are placing all Californians in danger, and by taking prudent steps to improve safety, we can save lives,” wrote Wiener in response before bemoaning the lack of leadership from the Governor’s Office.
“California should have led on this crisis as Wisconsin did in passing the first seatbelt mandate in 1961. Instead, this veto resigns Californians to a completely unnecessary risk of fatality.”
The governor’s logic that California should wait for the federal government to act flies in the face of California’s long-standing practice that it can, and should, be a leader on minimizing the harms done by cars. California has its own tailpipe emission standards. This has led to manufacturers producing more cars that meet that standard for sale across the country so they can have access to California’s market. That clean air leadership resulted in the California's stricter tailpipe emission standards being adopted by 17 other states.
Newsom’s veto also comes as a statewide and nationwide crisis on unsafe driving is claiming more lives throughout the state.
In California, speed is the leading cause of severe and fatal traffic crashes. More than 1,000 Californians have died in speed-related traffic crashes every year for the past five years, and tens of thousands are severely injured each year.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers have engaged in increasingly reckless behavior, putting themselves and others at risk. TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, found a 23% increase in speeding-related crashes in California from 2019-2022.
Nationally, pedestrian deaths are at a 40-year high, with the combination of speed, vehicle size, and weight as significant contributing factors. In recent years, more than 40,000 Americans die in traffic collisions annually.
“If the Governor knew what it felt like to wake up each day without your child because of a speeding driver, he wouldn’t have hesitated for a single moment to sign this bill,” said Liz Quiroz, whose daughter Aileen was hit and killed by a speeding driver in San Jose in the crosswalk in front of Aileen’s school.
Quiroz is a member of Families for Safe Streets, one of several non-profits that sponsored and advocated for this legislation. The other sponsors include Streets for All, Walk SF and KidsSafe.
