NHTSA's Speeding Plan Needs High Tech, IIHS Says

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has made a regulatory comment regarding where government resources should be allocated in the effort to combat speeding.

Specifically, the institute believes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should direct resources to encouraging the use of automated enforcement and provide incentives to automakers to install intelligent speed adaptation technology that alerts speeding drivers or automatically slows the vehicle to ensure compliance with speed limits.

Promoting effective law enforcement strategies, safe speed limits and traffic-calming techniques would also be beneficial, notes IIHS.

These kinds of strategies offer greater potential benefits than education, says IIHS. The recommendations came in response to NHTSA’s request for comments on a proposed study of the effects of a driver education course covering vehicle speeds, laws, and the risks of speeding. 

The course was designed for licensed drivers with at least one speeding citation or conviction over the previous three years.

However, notes IIHS, the a large body of evidence demonstrates that education has not been effective in addressing other key traffic safety issues such as alcohol-impaired driving or seat belt use. Rather, the Institute believes more aggressive strategies and an emphasis on safety technology should be priorities that NHTSA should spearhead.