NTSB pushes to enforce speed limits across the country with new technology

[sl8]

https://www.wapt.com/article/ntsb-push-enforce-speed-limits-across-country/41581515

NTSB pushes to enforce speed limits across the country with new technology

CNN
Updated: 2:37 AM CDT Oct 11, 2022
By Pete Muntean

The National Transportation Safety Board has a new recommendation for automakers that could "force" new cars to slow down.

Federal data shows more than 20,000 deaths on our roads in the first half of the year. This new effort is predicted to save tens of thousands of lives each year.

The NTSB is calling on the federal government to start incentivizing carmakers to put smart speed limiter systems in new cars.

The speed limiter program works through telematics.

[...]

[Chainfire]

1. They would probably save more lives by putting a device in the car that disables the driver's

cell phone when the car is rolling.

[SheltieLover]

8. No doubt!

[EYESORE 9001]

2. I can hear howls of righteous indignation already

Look for outcries of ‘but liberty,’ which is hard to reconcile with illegal acts.

[honest.abe]

3. Driving the speed limit is dangerous on many highways.

Unless they force all drivers to have this speed limiter it might actually cause more accidents.

[Hugin]

5. Putting the third brake light in was one thing...

But, yeah, I think you are correct in your assessment of partial speed limiter implementation.

[mn9driver]

4. Speed limiters have been around for years.

If they are mandated on new cars, the “speed limiter disabling industry” will spring to life over night. Guaranteed.

[Hugin]

6. An industry led by Darrel Issa...

Of car radar fame.

This whole article has me wondering if he needs a new gig.

[mitch96]

7. We had a discussion about this years ago. GPS speed info connected to cruise control..

If you are on a highway and the gps says 70 mph speed limit on that road,
the cruise control would limit top speed to 70 mph on the car.
40 mph zone? cruise control would limit speed to 40 mph, etcetera. This would be built in and no driver activation or deactivation needed. You can go slower just not faster. What cha tink?Too" big brother" for the general population?
If installed would you get an insurance deduction?? Naw that would never happen $$$..
Would county's and towns loose $revenue$ from less speeding tickets??
m

[Ray Bruns]

11. Too much big brother. I drive a lot of highway miles and

I usually have to get some where in a hurry.

[USALiberal]

20. So no speed limit????

[Ray Bruns]

21. That is "Reductio ad absurdism".

[USALiberal]

22. I usually have to get some where in a hurry. Lololo

[2naSalit]

14. Out where I live...

GPS is not your friend. It doesn't work well in the mountains, recall that about once or twice a year, winter especially, someone gets lost miles off road in the wilds of the Rockies because they got off the Interstate for gas and followed their GPS right out into the woods and never gave a thought as to how far it was to the gas station from the exit ramp. People get lost from using GPS all the time, it is not the wonder technology we are lead to believe.

I see this being about as effective a safety feature as anti-lock breaks. Sanctioned death facilitators. I have them in one of my cars and I hate them, they can easily cause an accident, especially on slippery road surfaces. I have another, older vehicle that I have restored so I can use it in winter because it is a standard trans without anti-lock breaks, I need total control over what is going on between my tires and the pavement, could be just me as a picky driver but I would disable the anti-lock breaks if I could. It's one of the two things I don't like about that one car. But I digress.

Having some other entity in control of the vehicle is something that would take some major adjusting. I'm not a speeder but I figure there are already too many "safety features" in cars that give drivers a false sense of security and they respond by becoming more lax about paying attention when driving.

Probably half the drivers in this country should not be allowed to drive due to lack of skills and willingness to obtain them or obey laws regarding safety.

Also...

You may be driving a brand new car but it doesn't mean your driving skills have improved.

[mitch96]

17. "I have them in one of my cars and I hate them" I know on my motorcycle you can remove

the ABS fuse to disable the action. Brakes still work but without the ABS.
Not condoning removing safety equipment but as a mental exercise.
I've had some doosey adventures with GPS in the mountains of Utah while in a rain storm.
No Fun..
m

[2naSalit]

23. Ooooh!

I like that tip about the fuse, I'll be investigating whether that's an option for that car.

[mitch96]

25. Some guys put a switch inline with the fuse. Just flip it to turn it off, flip it to turn back on.nt

[2naSalit]

26. Heh...

Kind of how we used to rig the tail light switch for the semi for specific reasons at specific times.

[Straw Man]

31. Traction control is another non-starter for me.

I had it in a Toyota. My driveway was a long uphill slope to the road. In my previous car, I had been able to make it on snow or ice with some minor wheel-spin. With traction control, any wheel-spin cut the power to the engine. Presto! There went all my momentum, and with it the ability to make it up the hill.

I prefer to be able exert maximum control over any machine I'm operating. I guess I'm old-fashioned that way. I'm just beginning to accept automatic transmission.

[mitch96]

32. I'm curious if you can turn it off. I know my mazda has a switch to do the deed..

[Straw Man]

33. I no longer have that car ...

... but it would be good to know -- worth looking into. Thanks for the tip.

[mitch96]

34. I think most newer cars have TC. Hell, a lot of recent motorcycles have different traction modes..

Rain, Sport, Gravel to name a few. Changes throttle response and HP to the rear wheel..
m

[ecstatic]

16. I think your idea has some potential if it could be used to gently prompt the driver to "slow down."

It would have to be a gentle audio or visual alert, not a loud warning that scares the driver into an accident. If done on screen, it should not block driving directions.

However, I'm totally against the idea of forcibly changing the speed that a car is going without context. Also, many areas' speed limits are not documented yet. Maybe due to changing every 1,000 ft or something. Some towns want to catch people in arbitrary speed traps.

[Mr.Bill]

29. The dashboard on my 2021 Nissan Sentra

displays the speed limit on the road you are on. I can't put an exact percentage on it, but it is less than 100% accurate. It also does not recognize temporary construction zone limits, or school zone limits that are only in effect according to the presence of children.

[newdayneeded]

35. doesn't sound to safe for

when you have to pass a car. I could see the elimination of passing areas on 2 lane highways.

[mitch96]

36. Yup, if everybody is doing...lets say 70 mph. nobody can pass. Even if a slow poke is

in your way doing lets say 65 mph it might take you a bit of time to pass that person.
m

[Roland99]

9. Perhaps, maybe, if it was in conjunction with traffic loads

I remember Car and Driver reporting years ago about a study done re: speed limits and how arbitrary they are

The study showed that, despite speed limits, an approximate 80/20 split was typically found on most roads and highways. Where 80% of traffic drove a certain speed, typically 5-7mph above the posted limit

The other 20% split as faster or slower

IOW, most drivers drove at a speed that felt it seemed safe and prudent given the current conditions

And that 80% was, again, usually several mph above whatever the posted speed limit was

[Roland99]

10. As an aside....I just drove a few hundred miles in the UK

From Manchester to Dover

All the speed cameras and average speed zones just made it seem stressful. Was too worried about keeping an eye on my speed than paying attention to my surroundings

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. THAT is the key;

IOW, most drivers drove at a speed that felt it seemed safe and prudent given the current conditions

The 75% (or 80, per your example) rule is absolutely true, and that is regardless of the posted speed limit, the safest speed to drive is that speed which 75% of the traffic is driving.

So if the speed limit is 55 but 75% of the traffic is doing 80, the eighty miles per hour is the safest speed to travel.

It also holds that if the speed limit is 75 and most of the traffic is doing 40, then 40 is the safest speed.

Speed limits are arbitrarily set in this country.

Why is it that the speed limit on a rural, 2 lane road in Texas is 70 for all vehicles but it’s 55 for trucks on California interstate highways?

The biggest reason why we have so many traffic fatalities in this country is because by and large, the American driver education system is utterly inadequate.

[Johnny2X2X]

12. No way this gets inacted

It's just a recommendation.

What I do think they could do though is use speed limiters for extreme speeds. Like a 100 mph limiter.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. It is my considered opinion that traffic enforcement

should focus on dangerous driving and excess speed on roads and highways rather than on stop signs, traffic lights (for the most part), and 25-45 mph zones in towns and cities. It's a waste of public safety funds to worry about a rolling stop sign infraction. "Irresponsible driving" should be the guiding light. We all know it when we see it but there's never a cop around because they're speed trapping on an open highway with a 55 mph zone. Safety enforcement should not be low hanging fruit. That's not where the danger and fatalities happen. IMHO anyway.

[ecstatic]

15. Is speed the problem though?

The problem is with people driving erratically, weaving in and out of lanes at high speeds or not paying attention to what's happening around them. Or someone in the far left lane who's going way slower than the flow of traffic, which causes people to pass from the right (or sometimes from the left if there's an HOV lane available). I do not like this proposal.

[krispos42]

28. I think the broad spread of driving speeds is a major issue.

When you have some people moving at 45 and others at 85, shit happens.

Every single time you have to change lanes to go around somebody, there's an increased chance for a collision.

Every single time you have to slow down to match a slower driver's speed, there's an increased chance for a collision.

By having some people ignore the speed limit more than others you create a system where people are constantly jockeying for position, and it's a matter of playing the odds.

It doesn't help that the state governments by and large completely refuse to accept reality and make speed restrictions in any way related to how people are actually driving. I guarantee you that if you drove the speed limit here in Connecticut you'd be slower than 90% of the vehicles on the highway.

It's also an issue that people that pass very slowly create conditions of desperation for the people trapped behind them. If a person is cruising at 62mph past a line of several trucks moving at 60mph, it takes a very long time to pass a single truck... and the trucks are usually packed in tight. 2mph closing speed equally 3 ft/sec... a truck is about 70 feet long, so it takes 23 seconds (nearly a half-mile of highway) just to move from the rear bumper to the front bumper of a semi!

If I have to get over to get to my exit it might take several MILES of highway to get to the point where I'm past the lead truck! So people sometimes have to cram themselves into tight spots between trucks just to try to get to right lane.

[NutmegYankee]

18. Exceeding the speed limit might allow you to avoid an accident, so this is a hard no.

If the driver doesn't have full control (or the ability to turn off assist features), no one is going to want to buy the car.

[moondust]

19. Maybe block cell data inside vehicle instead.

I would guess many accidents are caused by distracted drivers on their phones. Maybe car makers could block cell data and possibly phone connections from the driver's seat while the vehicle is moving. To use the phone the driver would have to be at a complete or near stop or not in the driver's seat.

[JCMach1]

24. How about a limiter that shuts your engine off entirely if you dont use

The stinking blinker...


Dangerous,

Annoying

You know who you are!

[jcgoldie]

27. Sounds like a good way to deter people...

...from buying new cars.