The risk of severe injury or death in a car accident increases proportionally to the speed at which the vehicles are traveling at the time of impact. Some angles of impact, such as head-on collisions, are dangerous even when the drivers are going at reasonable speeds. No one dies in a rear-end collision or a sideswipe accident, though, unless that at-fault driver is traveling much higher than the speed limit. In fact, every 10-mile-per-hour increase in speed doubles the risk of death in the event of a collision. Therefore, New York state legislators have proposed a bill that would require the installation of speed-limiting devices in the cars of drivers with a proven recording of habitual speeding. If you have been injured in a traffic accident where excessive speed played a role, contact a New York car accident lawyer.
An Ignition Interlock Device for Speeding?
Just as alcohol-related accidents are as destructive as they are preventable, so are speeding-related accidents. New York and many other states give judges the authority to order the installation of ignition interlock devices in the cars of people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. An ignition interlock device is a breathalyzer attached to the car’s ignition. When the device is in place, the car will not turn on unless you blow into the device, and it determines that your blood alcohol content (BAC) is within the legal limit. In other words, the devices make it possible for your car to stop you from driving drunk.
Technology also exists to enable cars to stop people from speeding. Speed limiting devices detect the speed limit on the road where you are driving, and when they are enabled, the car automatically stops accelerating once you reach a speed of five miles per hour faster than the speed limit. Senator Andrew Gounardes and the Assemblywoman have proposed a bill requiring the use of speed-limiting devices in the cars of people who incur multiple speeding-related traffic citations in a short span of time. The bill would require the device for people who get six speeding tickets, red light camera citations, or a combination thereof.
You would also be required to use the device if you get four such citations within a one-year period. It would also apply to people who have at least 11 points on their driver’s licenses, even if not all of those points are for speed-related infractions. The required time to use the device would be one year, with the possibility of extending it to three years if the driver gets additional citations. The authors of the bill predict that its implementation would reduce traffic fatalities by more than a third.
Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC About Car Accident Cases
A car accident lawyer can help you if you get injured in a preventable accident because the at-fault driver was speeding. Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC in Brooklyn, New York, or call (212)671-1110 to discuss your case.
