Senator Wiener’s vehicle speed technology bill passes first of many hurdles

Walk SF is a proud sponsor of SB 961, a bill authored by Senator Scott Wiener to require all cars and trucks manufactured or sold in California starting in 2027 (except emergency vehicles) to have ‘Intelligent Speed Assistance’ technology – which all new vehicles in Europe will have starting this summer. European vehicles will give an audio and visual warning to the driver when the vehicle is being operated in excess of the speed limit.

Speeding is the #1 cause of severe and fatal crashes in San Francisco and California. With the support of our members, Walk SF launched our #SlowOurSpeeds campaign in 2020 to push for every possible speed-slowing solution on our streets. SB 961 is a solution with incredible, lifesaving potential.

SB 961 faced its first vote on Tuesday, April 23 in the Senate Transportation Committee. I went to the State Capitol to share Walk SF’s strong support with Committee members.

SB 961 would bring needed safety technology into the vehicle fleet in California (and our country) to begin to counteract the fact that new vehicles are increasingly huge, heavy, and can get to high speeds in seconds.

As Senator Wiener said to the Committee, “With new cars, it is so easy to go faster than you even realize.” Senator Wiener also made the case for why California should get ahead of the lagging federal government on this. In 1961, Wisconsin mandated wearing seat belts, and the federal government finally adopted this in 1968. Countless lives were saved as a result.

It was a nerve-wracking hearing for SB 961. As you can imagine, there are plenty of powerful interests with no interest in Intelligent Speed Assistance. After the bill didn’t make it out of initial roll call, negotiations on SB 961 continued for hours.

Ultimately, SB 961 was passed out of Committee by an 8-4 vote, but with some significant changes:

• The side underride guards requirement for large trucks exceeding 10,000 pounds manufactured, sold, or registered in the state was removed from the bill. Underride guards can prevent pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists from being swept under and run over by a large truck’s rear wheels. This was very disappointing, but from our understanding it was the only way SB 961 could get sufficient votes to pass out of the committee.
• The passive Intelligent Speed Assistance warning will now activate at 10 MPH vs 5 MPH above the speed limit, and will be a one-time warning each time the speed threshold is exceeded. Note: Before SB 961 made it to this committee vote, it had already been amended to be a passive Intelligent Speed Assistance system, versus an active system that automatically slows the vehicle.

Even with these changes, it is big deal that SB 961 made it through this first hurdle despite special interests and a status quo working against it. If SB 961 passes, it would save countless lives, and likely affect the entire American automobile industry.

SB 961’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee likely on Monday, May 13. With you at our side, we will keep pushing it’s what’s right and what’s needed to protect human life on our streets.

Do you support Walk SF’s work on SB 961? Make a gift today!

Banner image by Emily Huston.