California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill requiring speeding warnings on new cars

SACRAMENT– Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday vetoed a bill that would have required new cars to beep to warn drivers who exceed the speed limit.

California would be the first to require such systems on all new cars, trucks and buses sold in the state by 2030. The bill, aimed at reducing traffic fatalities, would require vehicles to sound an audible alarm when a vehicle exceeds the speed limit. at least 10 miles per hour (16 km/h).

The European Union has adopted similar rules encouraging drivers to slow down. California’s proposal would provide exceptions for emergency vehicles, motorcycles and motorized scooters.

Explaining his veto, Newsom said federal law already imposes vehicle safety standards, and adding California-specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations.

MORE: Governor Newsom signs bill forcing digital stores to admit you only buy media licenses

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates now risks disrupting ongoing federal evaluations,” the Democratic governor said.

Opponents, including auto groups and the state Chamber of Commerce, say such regulations should be decided by the federal government, which earlier this year established new automatic emergency braking requirements in an effort to reduce traffic deaths. Republican lawmakers also said the proposal could make cars more expensive and distract drivers.

The legislation would likely affect all new car sales in the U.S. because the California market is so large that automakers would likely simply make all of their vehicles compliant.

California often throws this weight around to influence national and even international politics. The state has set its own emissions standards for passenger cars for decades, and more than a dozen other states have also adopted the rules. And when California announced it would finally ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, major automakers soon announced their own announcements to phase out fossil fuel vehicles.

MORE: Newsom signs bills to cut pollution from oil and gas extraction near communities

Speed ​​warning technology, known as Intelligent Speed ​​Assist, uses GPS to compare your vehicle’s pace against a set of posted speed limit data. If the car’s speed exceeds 16 km/h, the system will emit a single, short visual and acoustic signal.

The proposal would require the state to maintain a list of posted speed limits, which would likely not include local roads or recent speed limit changes, which would create conflicts.

This technology has been used for years in the USA and Europe. From July, the European Union will require all new cars to be equipped with the technology, although drivers will be able to turn it off. At least 18 manufacturers, including Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan, already offer some form of speed limiters on some models sold in America, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 10% of all car crashes reported to police in 2021 were related to speeding. This was particularly a problem in California, where 35% of traffic fatalities were related to speeding, the second-highest rate in the nation, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal.

Last year, the NTSB recommended that federal regulators require all new cars to warn drivers about speeding. Their recommendation came after an accident in January 2022, when a man with a history of speeding ran a red light at more than 100 miles per hour and struck a minivan, killing himself and eight other people.