New York Speed Limiting Pilot Shows Promising Results

An intelligent speed assistance (ISA) pilot program launched by New York City on 50 city vehicles last August proved successful in improving compliance with speed limit laws, reports Danielle McLean for Smart Cities Dive.

According to the article, “During that time, hard-braking events were reduced by 36% and vehicles complied with local speed limits 99% of the time, with the 1% representing the time between the initial acceleration and the time it takes for the ISA to reduce the speed.”

The city’s Safe Fleet Transition Plan for city fleet vehicles, updated in 2018, “formalized a set of best-practice vehicle safety technologies for all City vehicles to prevent and mitigate crashes, in direct support of Vision Zero,” according to the plan’s introduction.

The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) will assess the full results after the program ends next year and “has also requested federal grant funding to broaden the rollout of ISA technology for about 7,500 fleet vehicles over three or four years.” 

Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the federal government require speed limiting technology on new cars, a suggestion that earned critical fear mongering from some pundits who viewed it as an invasion of privacy (more on that here).