DRIVERS who violate a common traffic law will be forced to install a device to prevent auto accidents.
Those who have a history of rash driving should be extra careful to avoid the new consequences.
Washington drivers who speed on the street could be facing a new kind of penalty for their reckless driving, as reported by CBS affiliate KREM.
On Monday, the state’s governor, Bob Ferguson, signed the bill into law to help prevent car accidents and traffic violations due to speeding.
“Intelligent speed assistance devices for drivers who are found guilty of driving in a dangerous manner above the speed limit,” said Ferguson.
“This legislation was inspired by a crash when four individuals, including three children, were killed when their car was struck by a driver going 112 miles per hour,” he added.
Safe Streets for Families proposed the bill, which will install speeding technology inside vehicles of those who have a history of careless driving and are close to having their license taken away.
The organization notes that 44,450 Americans are killed in crashes every year, meaning 120 people are killed every day due to reckless driving.
The Washington Traffic Safety Commission reported that deadly car accidents involving drivers who were speeding increased by nearly 40% between 2019 and 2023.
Under the law, the technology would track a driver’s speed and stop the vehicle from passing the established speed limit, according to KREM.
The law would benefit other drivers and construction crews who are often vulnerable to rash drivers.
The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) pointed out that construction workers are victims of accidents caused by drivers who are going too fast when they shouldn’t be.
“I don’t think people realize how close our crews are working on the side of the road,” said Ryan Overton with WSDOT.
“When people are going 60-70 miles an hour, sometimes it’s a foot, or inches.”
“If people are going 60-70 miles an hour, if they’re an inch to the right and hit that work zone, that could be someone’s life,” he added.
In fact, the department said over 60 of its employees were killed due to such collisions and will back the legislation to protect its workers.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies to fighting a speeding ticket if it was wrongfully issued.
If pulled over and issued a ticket, drivers can argue or dispute a driver’s personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, an officer is required to write their opinion and come to an “objective” conclusion. If the ticket was written based on that judgment, it can be contested. An example would be if you were going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because others were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph. You can dispute the officer’s presentation of evidence. If you were ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal u-turn, you can’t contest that if an officer saw you, but you can call things into court like eyewitnesses, diagrams, or photos. Argue that the ticket was issued by a “mistake of fact.” This is tricky, but a “mistake of fact” is a mistake made by a driver about a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn down that you could not see them. You could say circumstances justified your driving. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver, or avoiding an accident by rapidly changing lanes. However, the argument won’t work if there’s proof you continued to speed after passing. Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren’t speeding, you or someone else could have been harmed. Consult a traffic attorney, if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there’s a case.Source: FindLaw
“Any reason we can give the public to slow down or be in the work zone, we are going to reiterate that message,” Overton continued.
Washington isn’t the only state to adopt this kind of technology to prevent speeding incidents.
Virginia was the first state to attempt to eliminate speeding.
The state introduced Intelligent Speed Assistance technology (ISA), which would be installed in vehicles of those who are accused of speeding over 100 miles per hour.
The device uses cameras and GPS to prevent drivers when they attempt going 10 miles over the speed limit.
With the new tech, the engine physically won’t allow the driver to exceed the speed limit, hopefully preventing car accidents.
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