During driver’s ed class, many of us drove lesson cars with speed governors. Newbies needed them so they wouldn’t endanger themselves or their trainer by accidentally hitting the gas instead of the brakes.
But no one ever imagined speed governors (now called limiters) would become standard equipment on a car, especially when driving requires situational awareness and the ability to speed, brake, avoid, honk, etc.
Built into the vehicle, the device limits how fast you can drive by using telematics. If you exceed the limit, some sound alert will commence, or the speed governor will stop your acceleration. Stored data on the street’s speed limits will cross-reference with a vehicle’s GPS position to make you stop or at least not accelerate.
Intelligent Speed Assistance or ISA is the name of the auto technology that might soon make driving a living hell. For years, the federal government has wanted to put them on commercial vehicles, but now they want them on all vehicles.
If this happens, drivers will no longer have the flexibility to make safer choices in the situation because they can no longer exceed the speed limit under any circumstances.
- If you need to make a long pass of several slower vehicles, forget about it.
- If you need to accelerate past a truck to merge onto a highway, forget about it.
- If you need to flee to safety (from a road rager or even a tornado), forget about it.
Lane Courtesy would no longer be needed either since passing would no longer be possible. Everyone will be using all lanes simultaneously, driving at the same speed. Traffic congestion will likely be worse than ever if drivers are not allowed flexibility.
Many of us like to drive and enjoy that we control what we do—not be controlled. Several motorists commenting in a recent CNN report stated that a speed limiter is an ‘overreach’ and ‘intrusive.’ We want to drive cars, not appliances.
Deputy Mayor of New York City for Operations Meera Joshi announced recently that the city would be the first in the US to use speed limiter technology to keep city vehicles from exceeding speed limits.
The NYC fleet driver would still have the option to override the cut-off and then manually speed for 15 seconds with a touch of a button under the steering wheel. Joshi said pressing this button could be used for merging lanes or keeping up with traffic flow. She also happily called the accelerator cut-off ‘a dead pedal.’ But what if you need more time to accelerate and get around a situation—will your vehicle dead-pedal you right in the middle of the maneuver? How safe is that?
Landline reported that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will unveil its speed limiter system for commercial vehicles by June 30, 2023. In May 2022, the FMCSA issued an advance notice on speed governance. Under its initial proposal, trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more and equipped with an electronic engine control unit capable of speed governance would be subject to the mandate. Upper-speed possibilities include 60, 65, or 68 mph. In the 2022 notice, nearly 16,000 comments were submitted, most from truck drivers adamantly opposed to the speed-limiter mandate.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has fought against speed limiter mandates for years. President Todd Spencer wrote OOIDA’s formal comments to the FMCSA on July 18, 2022.
“Professional truck drivers strongly object to any speed limiter mandate for several other reasons based on their owner experiences. Speed limiters take control of the truck away from the drivers, denying them the ability to use the truck’s capabilities to avoid accidents and unsafe road and traffic conditions.”
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report to the federal government earlier this month requesting a way to incentivize auto and truck makers to implement speed limiters in all new vehicles. If this comes to pass, customers pay for the privilege of having an ISA on their new car, whether they want it or not.
Can you imagine every vehicle on the highway with a speed limiter?
Achieving a safety objective without fully considering other factors will likely create unintended consequences.
