State Offers Speed-Limiters as Alternative to Suspension

Welcome, once again, to Lato's Law.

Here's Steve Lato.

Lately, there have been a bunch of headlines

about states cracking down on speeders

using some kind of speed limiting device.

And a lot of people have been upset by that

because a lot of the headlines would lead you to believe

that like for instance, all cars are gonna have

these or something.

But as of right now, that's not what you're talking about.

In fact, John sent me, you know,

it's Steve Check out the story out of Virginia.

Virginia's speed limiting legislation

to take effect July 1st.

But this only applies to people who've had trouble

legally with speeding and what they're gonna do

about that particular person.

So, Ashley Net wrote this for W.A.V.Y.

New legislation going to affect this summer

could change the way reckless speeders are penalized.

The law was signed by the former governor

when that was appropriate.

And it would allow a speed limiting device

to be placed on a driver's car.

Virginia State Police say they support anything

that sees drivers slowing down.

According to data, Virginia State Police

issued more than 8,500 citations for speeding

and reckless driving last year across division five.

That includes Greenville to the West,

Hampton Roads, Matthews County, and the East Conechor.

That is someone who's cited for driving more than 20 miles

per hour above the speed limit

or driving above 80 miles per hour,

a spokesperson for the State Police said.

Now, the new intelligent speed assistance program

will apply to drivers speeding above 100 miles per hour.

A convicted driver will have the option

of enrolling in the program

instead of having their license suspended.

So, you get busted for doing over 100, okay?

You're convicted.

In the old days, your license got suspended, you were done.

Now they're saying instead of the suspension

being automatic, you'll have the option of choosing

to have this option on your car

that will keep you from speeding like that

but they'll let you keep driving.

So, this is actually better than before

because before they would simply say,

know your license is suspended.

So, a lot of people are looking at this wrong.

Once the device is installed on the car,

the driver won't be allowed to drive another vehicle

while they're in the program.

They gotta drive their own car.

Tampering with the device or trying to get around it

would be a misdemeanor.

In a simple message, according to the State Police's,

just don't speed.

People always say, hey, I need to get to a location fast.

You've been sitting at the Hampton Road's bridge tunnel

for a while or the monitor mirror-mac

and you want to get someplace.

But speed equals less control your vehicle notes

and less stopping distance in case another driver

does something unexpectedly in front of you.

And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong,

but isn't Virginia the state that cracks

down really hard on speeding already?

Meaning that, I know somebody who's a writer

for a very well-known publication

was driving across Virginia.

I believe in a car that he was driving for a story.

And I think he wound up in jail for excessive speed.

So, your choices are jail, suspended license

or a speed-limbing device.

I would take the speed-limbing device,

but I don't know if that's the exact trade-off there.

So, also, speed increases the likelihood

that when you hit something,

all that machinery meant to protect you can't do its job.

Cars are built fairly sturdy these days,

but if you're hitting something at a high rate of speed,

if you're hitting a tree, a guardrail,

another vehicle, physics works regardless.

Yeah, physics does what physics does.

In 2024, there were more than 25,000 speed-related crashes

and 410 speed-related fatalities in the Commonwealth.

The state police spokesperson said they're in favor

of anything that gets people to slow down.

Much rather that folks take a little more time

and get your destination late,

rather than not get your destination at all,

or cause someone else to not get their destination,

at all, he said.

Virginia will be the first state to use this program.

DC has similar legislation,

and New York City is using speed-limiting technology

on its municipal fleet.

The law takes effect in Virginia, July 1st.

So, again, if they simply said,

hey, we're requiring everyone to put these in their cars

so we think people are speeding.

Yeah, I'd be against that.

But when they say, we're gonna take your license,

your license is suspended,

you cannot drive for a year.

Or if you want to, we'll let you drive your own car,

but it's gotta have the speed-limiting device on it,

which by the way, sometimes your purchase a governor,

but a lot of people when they hear the word governor

will think, oh, that's the guy who signed the bill,

or the ex-governor, but something that limits the speed

on your vehicle.

And again, it's an option that they're offering to people

who otherwise couldn't drive at all.

And a lot of people when they hear

about alternative sentencing get upset,

and you'll hear these stories about where a judge

said to somebody, you can go to jail for 30 days

or you can do this, and they'll name something.

And I did the story, I think about a year ago,

where a judge ordered shoplifters to wash cars

in the parking lot of the store they were stealing from.

And somebody appealed that,

and I believe it wasn't that actually an appeal

in the sense that it was a higher court,

but I believe that somebody complained,

and somebody in the court system said that's inappropriate.

And so the judge said, oh, okay,

I'll just send some all to jail then.

And to me, if a court says to you, you have an option.

Normally you'd get 30 days in jail,

but you have this, let's make a deal

behind door number two.

And it could be washing cars in the parking lot.

I've seen somebody standing outside holding up a sign,

I've seen that in the news before,

where the sign said something like,

I stole from this establishment or something,

or something, and people go, that's so unfair,

that's so usually it's offered as an option.

If you want to, you can go spend 30 days in jail,

or you can spend some time washing cars in a parking lot,

and will that be embarrassing?

Yes, but you don't have to do it.

You can go to jail for 30 days,

which would you rather do?

And so the speed limiters here being offered

as an option, they would allow some people to drive.

And ironically, they don't limit your speed,

so badly that you're gonna be crawling down

the shoulder at three miles an hour.

They're basically just saying,

you can drive your car like everybody else.

Don't do this crazy speeding stuff,

because they're talking about how many people

they busk for doing more than 80 or more than 100.

And I mean, almost every time I take a trip

where I'm on the freeway, okay?

Some days I just put her around town,

but occasionally I'm on the freeway,

and I remember, I'm trying to remember what concert it was,

but I went to a concert downtown Detroit

in November was blue October.

I went to Southern Bend, blue October at the Fillmore,

and I did a video about that,

which I'll put a link to that video in the description below

here, because I had a good time at that concert.

The video is on my backup channel,

I've got a second channel.

And coming back from that show was probably around midnight,

probably around midnight,

and I remember that traffic was out there.

There were several vehicles in the road,

it was not like desolate, okay?

Some place east of Omaha.

It was literally, there was traffic out there.

And a couple cars coming from downtown Detroit,

heading north, came flying by easily over 100 miles an hour.

And the section I'm talking about the road

is four lanes, each way, four lanes.

And so the cars are doing this weaving in and out of traffic,

and I don't know if the one car is chasing the other car.

But I remember, you know, when you see somebody

coming up behind you like that,

and your first thought is, should I get over?

Because my concern is I decide to get over

this person might pull a wild lane change and rear end me.

So instead I'll hold my lane and let them go by

on one side or the other.

But every now and then you hear about these crazy crashes

where somebody was doing 100 miles an hour

and ran their car into, you know, a bridge support,

and there ain't nothing left of anything.

You know, I mean, the bridge is still there.

Not much left of the car or the contents of the car,

including the contents that were driving the car.

So have I ever driven above the speed limit in my life?

I believe I have.

Have I ever done, you know, hundreds of miles an hour

in a car, yes, on a public roadway, probably not.

However, if I got busted

for super speeding and I was actually guilty of it,

I would take my medicine.

I would, I'd go, okay, I did, I did it, I deserve it.

But so far, so good.

So again, this is in Virginia,

and there are other states considering this type of option.

And again, if it's offered as an alternative

to just losing your license,

I think it's a great idea.

I think it's a great idea.

And by the way, in case you're curious,

yes, this will cost you money.

Because if this happens to you and there's a device

to put on your car, you're in the pay to put it there.

And it's probably something you have to rent.

And at the end of the rents, we gotta turn it back in.

And it's the same thing with the devices, the interlocks,

they put on cars for drunk drivers.

And again, they'll say, you cannot drive.

However, if you're willing to let us put the interlock

on your car, it makes you blow to make sure

you don't have alcohol on your system.

Before you can start the car, we'll let you do that.

And it's my understanding an expensive device.

Because they gotta install it, you got it,

and you gotta uninstall it.

However, if it's that or not driving, it's just an option.

It's an option.

So there you go.

John, thanks for sending that.

Ashley and I wrote it for W-A-V-Y.

Virginia's speed limiting legislation

to take effect July 1st.

Question, comments, put them below, let's talk to you later.

Bye-bye.

Thank you for watching Leto's Law.

I had the right to remain silent,

but I didn't have the ability.