Flowers line a memorial in Renton, Washington, on April 2, 2024, near where a speeding motorist crashed into a minivan, killing four people and seriously injuring two. — The Seattle Times via AP
A teenager who admitted being “addicted to speed” behind the wheel had totalled two other cars in the year before he slammed into a minivan at 112mph (180kph) in a Seattle suburb, killing the driver and three of the five children she was transporting for a homeschool co-op.
After sentencing Chase Daniel Jones last month to more than 17 years in prison, the judge tacked on a novel condition should he drive again: His vehicle must be equipped with a device that prevents accelerating far beyond the speed limit.
Virginia this year became the first state to give its judges such a tool to deal with the most dangerous drivers on the road. Washington, D.C., already is using it and similar measures await governors' signatures in Washington state and Georgia. New York and California also could soon tap the GPS-based technology to help combat a recent national spike in traffic deaths.
“It's a horror no one should have to experience,” said Amy Cohen, who founded the victims' advocacy group Families for Safe Streets after her 12-year-old son, Sammy Cohen Eckstein, was killed by a speeding driver in front of their New York home more than a decade ago.
Turning tragedy into activism
Andrea Hudson, 38, the minivan driver who was killed when Jones ran a red light, was building a backyard greenhouse with her husband to help educate several kids who shuttle between homes during the school day, her father, Ted Smith, said.
Also killed in the March 2024 crash near Hudson's home in Renton, Washington, were Boyd “Buster” Brown and Eloise Wilcoxson, both 12, and Matilda Wilcoxson, 13. Hudson's two children were sitting on the passenger side and survived, but they spent weeks in a hospital.
“You always hear of these horrific accidents, and it’s always far away, you don’t know anybody. But all of a sudden, that’s my daughter,” Smith said. “This guy did not swerve or brake. And it was just a missile.”
Smith knew Washington state Rep. Mari Leavitt, who reached out to offer condolences and tell him she was sponsoring legislation to mandate intelligent speed assistance devices as a condition for habitual speeders to get back their suspended licenses.
Leavitt predicts it will have an even more powerful impact than revoking driving privileges, citing studies showing around three-quarters of people who lose their licenses get behind a wheel anyway.
Between 2019 and 2024, the state saw a 200% increase in drivers cited for going at least 50 mph (80 kph) over the speed limit, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
“I guess I don’t understand why someone is compelled to want to drive that fast,” Leavitt said. “But if they choose to drive that fast with the speed limiter, they can’t. It's going to stop them in their tracks.”
The measure, which Washington legislators passed last month and Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to soon sign, is called the BEAM Act, using the first letters of the names of the four victims: Buster, Eloise, Andrea and Matilda.
Because Jones, 19, didn't receive a speeding ticket in his two previous crashes, he likely wouldn't have been required to use the speed-limiter ahead of the fatal one. And because it could be 2029 before the law takes effect, the judge's requirement at sentencing only applies to his time on probation after being released from prison, Smith said.
Evolution of a safety tool
Competing tech companies that joined forces to lobby for ignition interlock requirements for drunken drivers have been working in unison again the last few years to pitch intelligent speed assistance.
Brandy Nannini, chief government affairs officer at one manufacturer, Grapevine, Texas-based Smart Start, said fleet vehicles including school buses in the nation's capital have been trying it out for years.
But it took a lot of refinement before the GPS technology could instantly recognize speed limit changes and compel vehicles with the devices installed to adjust accordingly.
“We've got a lot more satellites in the sky now,” said Ken Denton, a retired police officer who is the chief compliance officer at Cincinnati-based LifeSafer, part of the coalition of companies.
When court-mandated, the devices would prevent cars from exceeding speed limits or whatever threshold regulators set. An override button allows speeding in emergencies, but states can decide whether to activate it and authorities would be alerted any time the button is pushed.
A more passive version, which beeps to alert drivers when they are going too fast, is required for new cars in the European Union. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar proposal last year, explaining vehicle safety requirements are set by the federal government and he was concerned a patchwork of state laws could stir confusion.
Parents take up the cause
Before Del. Patrick Hope agreed to sponsor the proposal in the Virginia Legislature, he tried out the device in Nannini's car, which was calibrated to not go more than 9mph (14kph) over the speed limit.
“That was my first question: Is it safe?” Hope said.
Not only did he come away convinced it was safe, Hope is now pondering whether to install it on the cars of his three children, all of whom are new drivers.
For those mandated by a court, the price could be hefty: US$4 per day and a US$100 installation fee. The fee would be reduced for low-income offenders.
Cohen with Families for Safe Streets, which provides support services to the loved ones of crash victims, knows firsthand the kind of impact slowing down speeders can make. A year after her son was struck and killed in front of their New York apartment, another boy was injured in the same spot.
By then, the road's speed limit had been lowered.
“That boy lived when he was hit, and mine did not,” she said. “When you are going a few miles slower, there's more time to stop. And when you hit somebody, it's much less likely to be deadly.” – AP
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