The California legislature recently passed a bill that will require speed assistance systems on all vehicles in the state starting in 2030. 

The Senate and Assembly moved the SB961 to Governor Gavin Newsom Aug. 31. If Gavin signs the bill, California would be the first state to require a speed assistance system in vehicles. 

Intelligent speed assistance (ISA) became required technology on vehicles in Europe in July, according to multiple media reports. 

California’s bill requires every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured, sold as new or leased in the state to be equipment with “passive” ISA, the bill text says. 

 ISA is defined as an integrated vehicle system that determines the speed limit on the roadway that the vehicle is traveling on. The bill adds it utilizes a brief, one-time visual and audio signal to alert driver each time they exceed the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour. 

OEMs are also allowed to include additional ISA, such as, vibrations or pedal resistance, or repetitive, successive, or ongoing warnings each time a vehicle exceeds the speed threshold, the bill says. It also says OEMs are allowed to use warnings for when a vehicle is traveling below the speed limit or at a threshold greater than 10 miles per hour. 

The bill exempts emergency vehicles, certain motortrucks, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, mopeds and certain passenger vehicles from the requirement. It says the system should be capable of being fully disabled by the OEM or franchisee for emergency vehicles. 

Language was removed from the bill that required the Office of Fleet and Asset Management to establish a pilot program with the system equipped on state vehicles. Data collected for a minimum of 12 months would be reported to the legislature annually. The department would have the authority to discontinue the program if it determines the program can’t meet the needs of the state. 

Another version of the bill also required vehicles with three or more axles and more than 10,000 pounds to have side guards to prevent bikes and cars from being pulled under the vehicles during a crash. 

Crash data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this year shows 18% of all drivers involved in a fatal crash in 2022 were speeding at the time of the crash. It also says speeding was related to 29% of all fatal crashes during that time period. 

Overall, 12,151 people died in speed-related crashes in 2022; a slight decrease from the 12,498 killed in 2021.

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