Big brother: Democrat-led NTSB pushes for artificial intelligence speed controls in all new vehicles

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A National Transportation Safety Board investigation into a 2022 fatal crash in North Las Vegas, Nevada, that resulted in nine fatalities has given the board an excuse to recommend a new requirement for intelligent speed assistance technology in all new cars.

The board issued the recommendations earlier this month at a public meeting after determining the crash was caused by high speed, drug-impaired driving, and Nevada’s failure to deter one driver’s speeding recidivism due to systemic deficiencies, despite numerous speeding citations.

Intelligent speed assistance technology, or ISA, uses a car’s GPS location compared with a database of posted speed limits and its onboard cameras to either issue a warning to drivers or to throttle back speed.

Passive ISA systems warn a driver when the vehicle exceeds the speed limit through visual, sound, or haptic alerts, and the driver is responsible for slowing the car.

Active systems include mechanisms that make it more difficult, but not impossible, to increase the speed of a vehicle above the posted speed limit and those that electronically limit the speed of the vehicle to fully prevent drivers from exceeding the speed limit. 

“This crash is the latest in a long line of tragedies we’ve investigated where speeding and impairment led to catastrophe, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We know the key to saving lives is redundancy, which can protect all of us from human error that occurs on our roads. What we lack is the collective will to act on NTSB safety recommendations.” 

Homendy is a Democrat who served more than 14 years as Democratic staff director for the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in the U.S. House of Representatives. She worked for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, and American Iron and Steel Institute.

Eliminating speeding through the use of federally mandated speed limiters built into cars is a priority for the NTSB, which seeks to “Develop performance standards for advanced speed-limiting technology, such as variable speed limiters and intelligent speed adaptation devices, for heavy vehicles, including trucks, buses, and motorcoaches. Then require that all newly manufactured heavy vehicles be equipped with such devices.”

In 2021, speeding-related crashes resulted in 12,330 fatalities—about one-third of all traffic fatalities in the United States, the NTSB said.

However, according to the latest figures from AAA, 245 million drivers made a total of 229 billion driving trips, spent 91 billion hours driving, and drove 2.92 trillion miles in 2021. That means out of every 91 million hours of driving, there are 12,330 fatalities, or one fatality for every 7.3 million hours of driving.

According to the National Safety Council, the rates of fatal car accidents has greatly improved over the decades. This is due, in part, to the numerous safety features now required in cars, such as seatbelts, air bags, and backup cameras, which were mandated in 2018.

66 COMMENTS

  1. More govt control… I know how to unhook wires and wireless – and if even a mechanical idiot like me can do that, many will, and all we will accomplish is to price vehicles out of many people’s reach (the real goal). The issue isn’t the availability of speed – sometimes you need to be able to accelerate quickly to avoid bad things. The issue is a culture that fails to realize the content of the vehicle is a human being and to treat humans with dignity, kindness, and respect. What we lack is the collective will to act on eliminating road rage. And what we lack is the collective will to eliminate DUI – even marijuana with traceable amounts in a urine test (40 days anyone?). Penalty for DUI must START WITH forfeiture of the vehicle and prohibition of registering another until long-term sobriety can be established. Making everyone pay for one severe example in Nevada by more forced control (much worse than my proposal!!) and expense is unjust and unfair – let the perps pay for their own crimes.

    • Sorry, i have to disagree…Not that i condone the act of driving under the influence of anything, but until they damage something or someone there is no crime. without a crime, the government should not be taking any private property period. the simple act of driving, sleeping or just being in your car should not be a crime, the government has successfully criminalized a victimless crime. the forfeiture laws in Alaska are some of the worst in the country and if your suggestion was ever implemented it would only get worse. the only possible good that i could see from this NTSB suggestion is the fact that if our vehicles were rendered impossible to speed, well then we could cut the police force, traffic enforcement, as there would be no need any longer….

    • I would not have expected any different response from a leftist such as yourself.
      Whenever there is an opportunity for more centralized control, Greg is the first in line to say “Yes!”

        • Distracted driving, inept driving, not paying attention, not knowing animple laws like yielding to oncoming traffic all contribute far more to accidents than simply driving over the speed limit.

        • Greg, I realize that you probably think you are a “good person” by automatically obeying every unjust law and mandate, and bowing low to corrupt authority at every opportunity, but I do not see ‘good person’ in such behavior, merely an intellectually and morally weak and cowardly person.

          In short, you servile conformity is contemptible and revolting.

        • That passion is equal only in your passion for having a central government control your day to day life.
          .
          If you really hated lawbreakers, you would want them arrested, convicted, and punished. But, instead you are cheering on a measure that assumes every driver is a lawbreaker, even if there is zero evidence they are, or intend to.
          Additionally, this will also implement a massive surveillance network, something a good leftists always wants. Knowing where the people (subjects) are is the first step in controlling them.
          .
          You leftists are so predictable.
          “Central control? Yes Please”

  2. You will have nothing and you will like it.

    The left abhors freedom. Almost as much as they do responsibility.

    • True. The left/progressives/liberals/communists/Democrats can never get enough control.and their willing sheep say “Masks? Hell yeah!”, “Vaxes? How many?”, “Taxes? How much!”.

    • Yes, this exactly! The left hates freedom and wants to take every bit of it away! That’s why they don’t want people driving too fast, it has nothing to do with excess speed causing tens of thousands of otherwise preventable accidents every year.

      The next thing they are going to try to ban having a few shots before you drive home. Or pilots from having a cocktail half way through a long flights. What is this nation coming to?

      Man, the left, do they hate freedom!

  3. Ok let’s put this on all military and government vehicles for a 5 years test. Bidens limo can only go at 25 mph as he cannot get into a wreck.
    Also no more car races as they have accidents.
    Might as well slow down airplanes trains and anything that goes faster than a walk.
    Stupid people running our lives should be named and made to follow their own ideas.

  4. If I want to go down the Seward Highway at 100mph and take out a bunch of peeps with me who are they to tell me how to die?

  5. The perp in the crash had a history of reckless driving, DUI and was going 103 mph at impact. NTSB is using the same failed logic anti-gunners use when a mass shooting takes place. It won’t work on vehicles either. Cheers –

    • But think how easily you can use the anti gun rhetoric for speed limiters.
      “Nobody needs an AK-47 to go hunting” becomes;
      “Nobody needs a 100 mph car to go to the supermarket”
      Difficult to argue against when you add the classic “If legislation saves the life of just one child, it’s worth it”

    • Right there…. that is the problem with these “safety regulations”
      They assume that everyone is going to break the law and take lives, even though there is zero evidence to support that position.
      .
      The anti-gun idiots always pull the “you are just one bad day away from being a mass murderer, so my law is going to save lives.” Which is absolute crap.
      After all, your pilot is only one bad day away from being a mass murderer. So is your pharmacist, bus driver, electrical utility worker, etc…

  6. Wanna save gas and lives? Simple. Allow law enforcement to do their jobs.

    A good second step is raising the driving age to 18.

    Then take licenses from repeat offenders.

    In short, this is a “solution” in search of a nanny state problem.

    If this happens, the natural next step is limiting who can have driving privileges. Probably by social credit scores.

    Then how far is someone allowed to travel. How much gas they are allowed to have. If they are allowed to have a car.

    Especially, it’s the Soviet driving system all over again.

    Paraphrasing Franklin. Those who would exchange freedom for security deserve neither.

  7. Oddly reminds me of the movie Idiocracy. Just keep dumbing things down rather than raise the personal bar of behavior and consequence. Do we really want to live in a world where evolution makes humanity stupid because people no longer need to be intelligent or physically fit to survive due to the benefits of technology? Sadly, society already appears to be heading that direction. – Cheers

  8. It did not take genius insight to see it coming to this. Remember when Fran Ulmer as a legislator brought mandatory seat belt use upon us? I believe laws enforcing personal safety can only be rationalized by the fact emergency response and rescue operations are paid by taxpayers. However, that perspective cuts both ways. Even those endangering themselves with risky behavior are taxpayers. The real question is, who is the arbiter of what constitutes behavior risky enough to justify it being legally controlled?

  9. Democrats are evil. They are pro crime. Pro open borders; anti environment, anti America. and hate freedom. By 2025 Democrats want to make new cars and trucks even more expensive. They want you to spend thousands more for a new vehicle. Democrats want DUI breathalyzers in your car. If the expensive technology fails, too bad, your car will not start.

    “According to President Biden’s infrastructure bill, all new cars produced in 2026 and beyond must have drunk driving detection technology. Mar 27, 2023”

    Democrats are also working to ban AM radios in your cars. They don’t like the fact that AM radio carries a conservative perspective- and that results in more conservatives being elected.

  10. Noble cause. They always are. Freedom is risky. Dangerous. Unpredictable. You loose it inch by inch. Soon it’s a foot, then a yard, then a mile. Freedom is not always something you can hold in your hand but you miss it when it’s gone and you don’t get it back.

    I don’t always carry a conceal firearm. But if I want or need to, in Alaska, I can. I don’t have to ask permission of the government. I’ve lived in other states where it doesn’t work like that. You are required to ask permission (get a permit) and pay the government some cash to do so. Believe me, there is a difference!

    To me, that is the essence of freedom. You may not fully appreciate it, until it’s gone. Good luck getting it back.

    • Dave, when the light turns red, do you blindly, sheepishly submit to the socialist/communist/global Deep State and stop? Or do you assert you libertarian independence and force your way through?

      • “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

        – C.S. Lewis

  11. Typical Democrat bs! Governors to prevent speed in vehicles? You can take that, and the rest of what the Government is up to and shove it. This AI garbage is dangerous, and when someone like Elon Musk tells you it’s bad, IT’S BAD.
    What needs to happen is WE need to control the government, not the other way around! They work for us, we don’t work for them! Remember that!

  12. “…and Nevada’s failure to deter one driver’s speeding recidivism due to systemic deficiencies, despite numerous speeding citations.”
    How about we fix this problem first, before we start assuming the entire population is the same level of criminal, OK?

  13. What is next? Using technology to strip freedom has unlimited potential. Punishment of people who endanger others by their actions should be the emphasis, instead of removing freedom from everyone. And certainly such devices be made tamper-proof to control nearly everything we do. High technology can be a tool or a weapon. Our voluntary use of technology to control every aspect of our lives has reached its peak. People can’t even think without consulting their devices. To prove my point, go a week without your devices and see how it goes for you.

  14. They are making cars way too smart these days and I don’t like it. I tried to pull into a burger joint the other day and the car drove to a health food store instead. And my car really doesn’t like me either. The other day it pulled over to the curb and told me to get out.

    • The weird part is my car is pushing 30 years old but for some reason, it is pushing me to exercise more. Every time I start it up, there is a light on the dashboard that is reminding me to do an ABS workout. It even has to “jiggly” symbols on either side of it.

  15. All sorts of hacks’ll emerge to defeat federally mandated speed limiters built into cars.
    .
    Sure and Feds’ll retaliate, but it should be fun while it lasts.

    • Frank:
      If I asked you to tell everyone on MRAK that you are clueless, without actually saying so, I do not think you could have make a more definitive statement than that one.
      The Rivian is perhaps the least reliable EV out there, and it is also one of the most expensive to operate. You will never see a penny of savings.

  16. One may wonder, rather than overseeing speed limiters employed within vehicles as an overview of supposed safety, as a one off regarding safely operating vehicles, a more viable safety measure would be to eliminate all electronic communication once the key is turned to start the vehicle, whether it be a fuel combustible engine or electric.

    Afterall, it is the driver of the vehicle that is the problem, not the vehicle itself, is it not, and would not a speeding driver without distraction still be safer than one at a normal speed with distraction?

      • Difference.
        In the situation where a court orders an individual who has repeatedly demonstrated they cannot be trusted to take a cab or get a ride after drinking, yep.. they can and should dare to require a lock out device.
        What this is proposing is to put restrictive devices on every vehicle sold. No crime has been committed by the owner, no court appearance, no demonstrated lack of responsibility.
        .
        But, you are a leftist, always looking for ways to have the government control the average individual’s lives. So, I would not expect you to understand the distinction between the two.

  17. The tactic to take away freedom is to scare people with death. Put in speed controls or you will die. Look how much freedom we lost during the COVID scam. Cars have speed controls. One set of keys (or fob) is a master while the other is the spare. You can control the spare to set a speed maximum, stereo volume max, and other items. Let the owner decide.

  18. Will accomplish nothing. Require drivers Ed and toughen up the licensure requirements, actually requiring drivers to know laws and how to drive, would go much further in saving lives. But alas, not really about saving lives or improving safety…….power and control.

      • Then control them… AFTER (and only after) it has been demonstrated they cannot be trusted. Do not assume everyone requires that control.
        Your all-powerful State adoring leftist is showing big time on this article.

          • If the taxes actually went to law enforcement, I would be fine with it.
            Too bad leftists, such as yourself, will always find shiny new things to toss away taxpayer dollars on, instead of providing services the taxpayers need.

          • Wow, look at who can suddenly read minds.
            If my taxes were actually used for the items that benefit the taxpayers, I would not be opposed. Fully fund the police. I want that.
            .
            But, for some reason, you know what I really want… fun… telepathy IS real!

          • 100 years of speeding proves what wrong? That law enforcement does not work? Is that what you are talking about?
            Or that people can (and do) choose to repeatedly break the law proves… what exactly?
            .
            Oh… wait, I get it.
            You are claiming that repeat speeders is some kind of justification for assuming every driver is a repeat offender, and as such, must have their vehicles altered to prevent speeding in any way.
            See, that is how leftists work. Assume everyone is a criminal, institute a surveillance state to oversee and control individuals behavior, wash, rinse, repeat…
            Your true colors are showing, pinko.

  19. Is the US Constitution out the window then? What’s in favor then? Regional disparate favored foreign traditions and values in lieu?

  20. I am not a speeder but maybe 26 years ago my ability to gun my car to avoid being in a rock slide.

    ‘https://nypost.com/2022/04/13/woman-esca…
    Explore this image
    Woman escapes Alaska rockslide before saving driver …
    WebApr 13, 2022 · JUNEAU, Alaska – A woman filmed herself escaping the path of a rockslide near Juneau, Alaska, last week and then frantically rushed to save drivers from getting killed. Alana Davis was recording …

    Global web icon
    Distractify
    ‘https://www.distractify.com/p/what-happened-in…
    What Happened in Haines, Alaska? The ‘Gold Rush’ Crew …
    WebAug 21, 2021 · The cast of Gold Rush has had their fair share of run-ins with danger after a decade of going toe-to-toe with the elements of nature. Although the crew can normally prepare for any problem that comes their way, this was not the case in December of 2020. In the Gold Rush spinoff, Gold Rush: Winter’s Fortune, the crew …

    Global web icon
    Anchorage Daily News
    ‘https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2019/01/…
    Driver badly hurt when falling rock hits car on Seward Highway
    WebJan 27, 2019 · A rock that tumbled onto a car on a notoriously unstable section of the Seward Highway south of Anchorage left the driver with life-threatening injuries Friday. The rockfall closed the highway …

    Global web icon
    FOX Weather
    ‘https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/woman…
    Woman escapes Alaskan rockslide, then stops driver seconds …

    4:13
    WebApr 13, 2022 · JUNEAU, Alaska – A woman filmed herself escaping the path of a rockslide near Juneau, Alaska, last week and then frantically rushed to save drivers from getting killed. Alana Davis was recording footage

    Now, think for your self….have you ever been in a driving situation where you had a a true need to go above the speed?

    A medical need and the both of the ambulances are on a call. Yea, just wait right??

  21. Ok, let me get this right. Legalize meth, pot, cocaine, heroin, mushrooms and then put in speed controls to keep these drug heads from Killing anymore people than the speed limit will allow. Got it.

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