California’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have required all new cars to beep at drivers when they speed.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/9VMTY
Holy shit that would have been annoying. Thanks Gav
Or you could just stop speeding. If you think that breaking the law and taking the risk of injuring/killing another human being is more important than a little annoyance, you should get your priorities straight. The world doesn’t revolve around you.
There are an endless number of places where the speed limit data does not match the actual speed limit. My car has the speed limit wrong on hundreds of small back roads and even segments of highway. This encourages not actually paying attention to posted signs.
Failing that, you can be going the speed limit and then the speed limit drops or increases by 15-30mph suddenly. Like highway ramps for example. Most people coast into the lower speed after the change or accelerate into the new speed in advance of the change. This would encourage hard breaking at extremely dangerous places or entering highways at incredibly unsafe low speeds.
Noise alerts should be limited to imminent threats or severe safety warnings (fast approaching a slower vehicle in the same lane, seatbelt not fastened, etc) but not for activity that a) may actually be totally legal, and b) may cause panicked, reflexive actions, or c) may cause confusion for the driver.
I could also see it get really annoying for those of us without functioning cruise control trying to go the speed limit consistently, depending how close to the speed limit is started to beep.
It’s a good idea on paper, but the reality of implementing it would be disastrous. I’m all for people slowing the fuck down and driving safer, but this method wouldn’t work.
Going “the speed limit” is in fact not always the safest option. Where I live EVERYONE is going at least 10 over on the freeways, and I mean everyone. If you are going the speed limit here, you are adding danger to those around you because now you’re an obstacle. Now if this were something they could implement on all cars at once it might make sense, but it would only affect new vehicles.
That’s just gonna piss people off
You know what else pisses people off: the fact that speeding kills 33 Americans every day and permanently disables dozens more.[1]
Yup, and this is still just gonna piss people off.
I generally liked Scott Weiner’s legislation but am glad this bill was vetoed.
My RAV4 already detects the limit sign, displays the posted speed on the dash, and turns that limit red when traveling 10 over. It makes me aware of what the limit is without a distracting beep that could be confused with other warnings already implemented like rapidly slowing traffic ahead.
Safety Saturation is a real thing. If the car starts beeping for going with the flow of a traffic then drivers just start ignoring them all.
I want like a video game hud to show up on the windshield that turns red when it’s 10 over. I hate not knowing what the speed limit is and having to guess
Good