Advocates in Maryland are hoping Gov. Wes Moore will sign a bill that would require installation of new technology in the cars of the state’s worst drivers to get them to slow down and drive safer.
The bill, sponsored by Del. Nick Allen of Baltimore County, would launch the Intelligent Speed Assistance System Pilot Program. It passed both chambers overwhelmingly, and if the governor signs the bill, it would become law Oct. 1.
Similar to how someone arrested for drunk driving has to get an ignition interlock device that checks for alcohol on their breath, this technology would go into the vehicles of drivers who have racked up so many points on their license that they were facing either suspension or revocation.
“It tracks where you are, and it’s able to know in real time what the speed limit is, wherever you are,” Allen said.
The device can be adjusted to allow you a couple miles per hour over the limit, similar to how police might give you a couple miles per hour grace on the roads.
“For example, I was driving this car. I was driving it on a road, I think was the speed limit was 35 mph,” Allen said. “Even though I put the pedal all the way down to the floor, it would not go above 39 mph. It’s actually quite uncanny how good the technology works.”
A couple safe driving advocates from Montgomery County, each of whom have lost loved ones in traffic crashes, helped push for the bill.
“We’ve all seen these people out on the highway,” said Dan Langenkamp, a Bethesda man whose wife was struck and killed by a truck while she was biking in a bike lane on River Road. “These are drivers that are racing down the Beltway and scaring the bejesus out of everybody.”
And Allen made clear, the technology is for those who do that on a regular basis, and keep getting caught.
“It’s people who have accrued enough points on their license, either through speeding violations, reckless driving violations, but typically speeding violations, that would otherwise either have their license suspended or completely revoked,” Allen said.
He added that, more often than not, those violators keep driving anyway.
“We estimate about 75% of people who have their licenses revoked or suspended end up keep driving,” said Allen, reciting numbers from Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration.
“People need to get to work, they need to pay their bills, they need to take their kids to school, they need to go to doctor’s appointments. So this is a way we can ensure those people who might end up driving again on a suspended license can keep driving, but they’re doing it safely,” he added. “And we’re making sure that these people who have a habitual tendency to speed and to drive in an unsafe way are going the speed limit.”
Olney resident Mindy Badin advocated for the bill six years after her son Brett was struck and killed crossing Rockville Pike.
“It would mean fewer speed related crashes on our roads,” she said. “It would mean fewer people with serious injuries, fewer people dying and fewer families that have to go through the pain of losing a loved one.”
Langenkamp also said it could prove even more effective than speed cameras at getting people to drive safer.
“The thing about cameras is that they force you to slow down when there’s a camera. But our mapping applications now show us where the cameras are, so those speeders would just speed up after they pass the camera,” he said. “This will take those people that are super, super lawless, and get them to calm down.”
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