Last year, 4,000 people were killed in the state of California in the USA, more than 10 times as many as Israel. This while its population, approximately 39 million people, is 4 times larger than in Israel.
This is enough to inspire the legislators of the largest among the US states to act: the House of Representatives The local will discuss a bill by Senator Scott Weiner to limit all new cars sold in the state so that they cannot go faster than 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). This is a speed that is 10 miles (16 km/h) higher than the speed limit in California .
According to the proposal, all new cars that will hit the road starting in 2027 will be limited in this way, when only police cars will be exempt from the limit.
According to the proposal, the drivers will be able to temporarily cancel the restriction under certain conditions, but it does not specify when.
Will it be only during motor sports activities on a race track, or also during an emergency trip?
Limiting speed to 130 km/h on any road does not solve the problem of driving too fast in built-up areas/ShutterStock, Maksim Toome
"I don't think it's excessive at all, and I don't think most people would see it as excessive. We have speed limits. I think most people support a speed limit because people know that speed kills," said Wiener, whose proposal follows the general path of a blanket speed limit, instead of Create a location-based speed limit.
Using GPS, it is possible to limit the speed of travel in the city to 30 km/h on crowded streets and near educational institutions, for example. In California, about a quarter of the fatalities are pedestrians.
Wiener added that "people drive 50-60 miles per hour in neighborhoods and 90-100 miles on the highway , it is improbable and unsafe." However, his proposal does not solve the problem of driving at excessive speed in a built-up area. It will also not solve another burning problem faced by the country's law enforcement system, a 23% jump in the number of hit-and-run cases of drivers
. In 2019, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, vetoed a similar proposal. But in the public atmosphere against the private car, the situation may now change, encouraging other states to follow suit. The car manufacturers are also starting to limit speed on their own initiative: Volvo already began four years ago to limit every new car it produces to 180 km/h.
More on the same topic:
excessive speed
California