Speed Limitations: Using Technology to Curb Fatalities Caused by Excessive Speed

SENSORS IN MOTOR VEHICLES CONTROL SPEED TO LOCAL SPEED LIMITS TO KEEP THE PUBLIC AND OTHER ROAD USERS SAFE.

As an injury and neuroepidmeiologist, and road user, it is every day we hear of a car crash resulting from excessive speed, and in most cases not killing the driver, but other road users, including other drivers and their passengers, and pedestrians. There is technology to prevent these preventable speed-related crash fatalities and injuries.

In 2022, 12,151 people died, and 300,595 were injured in speeding-related car crashes (NHTSA). Therefore throughout 2022 in the United States, every 24 hours, 33 people were killed by a speeding driver, and another 800 were injured every day. These deaths are 100% preventable. Most of these fatalities were also not the driver who was speeding but instead were pedestrians and those in other vehicles. While the 4 E's, Enforcement, Education, Emergency Response, and Engineering are designed to improve safety, unfortunately with newer vehicles having the ability and marketed for higher speeds, despite the 4 E's, leaving the driver responsible is not changing behavior. Instead, there is technology to control every vehicle to the posted speed limit. While coordinated efforts, regulation, licensing, and registration, plus new car designs, would take time, it would save lives and make our roadways safer for the public. Such devices in technology would have saved the lives of the 12,151 people who died, and the 300,595 who were injured from speed-related car crashes in 2022. Not to mention the Years of Lives Lost (YYL) from premature deaths.

One innovative approach to mitigate motor vehicle and pedestrian fatalities on roadways involves leveraging the Global Positioning System (GPS) to control vehicle speed dynamically. This is an approach when I was in college as a research project, I had designed a sensor that controls a vehicle's speed, based on the associated speed limit. Since then, and even before there have been many similar concepts. When I began as a behavioral injury epidemiologist and began developing programs on traffic safety, it was clear, and continues in 2024, that excessive speed is among the leading causes of car crashes. Nearly 1/3 of car crash fatalities are from excessive speed [https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/speed-campaign-speeding-fatalities-14-year-high].

Even as far back as 1996 by Vaughn (1996), this system?utilizes a locally stored map database to correlate vehicle location and speed with a maximum posted speed limit. By integrating these data, the system automatically adjusts vehicle speed to ensure compliance with posted limits, reducing the risk of accidents and fatalities. This innovative approach eliminates the need for traditional police patrol enforcement, providing a more efficient and effective means of ensuring road safety.

Excessive speed and car chases put the public at risk, and other drivers and passengers on our roadways. While enforcement and prosecution provide after the fact and often after a fatality, like many of those on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Malibu, California. All these fatalities on our roadways can be prevented. There are however contributing factors, such as 1) vehicles designed and marketed to show their speed at 0-60 mph in less than a few seconds; 2) vehicles designed for the safety of the driver; 3) paying fines and minimal legal consequences for driver behavior, all lead to putting the public at risk. The only way to prevent excessive speed is to include sensors on all registered vehicles allowed on the roadway to be controlled with maximum posted speed limits. Other than emergency vehicles, there is no reason for drivers to speed. Even during an emergency, studies show an increased risk of car crashes, where it is best to call 911 for an ambulance. This type of device would also help law enforcement in preventing vehicle chases for easier apprehension.

As traffic safety professionals, we need to consider the use of technology, when human behavior and the 4 E's are not enough to control these risks, and lives are being lost and injured.

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NHTSA launches speeding Prevention campaign, reminding drivers speeding has deadly consequences. NHTSA. Published July 8, 2024. https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/speeding-prevention-campaign-launch-2024#:~:text=NHTSA%20also%20released%20data%20showing%20that%20while%20the,crashes%2C%20a%203%25%20and%209%25%20decrease%20from%202021.

Vaughn D Jr, Boris G. Tankhilevich (1996). VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL BASED ON GPS/MAP MATCHING OF POSTED SPEEDS. United States Patent. Published online January 16, 1996. https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/2b/03/84/17420e89e5aaed/US5485161.pdf

https://patents.google.com/patent/US5485161A/en