Virginia, Washington and Georgia want judges to force dangerous drivers to install car devices that stop them from speeding

A teenager who admitted to being“Addict at speed”At the wheel, there were a total of two other cars during the year before it slipped into a mini-duties at 112 mi / h (180 km / h) in a suburb of Seattle, killing the driver and three of the five children she was carrying for a home cooperative.

After the conviction of Chase Daniel Jones last month to over 17 years in prison, the judge nailed to a new condition if he led again: his vehicle must be equipped with a device that preventsaccelerate far beyond the speed limit.

Virginia this year has become the first state to give its judges such a tool to treat the most Dangerous drivers on road. Washington, DC, already uses it and similar measures await the signatures of governors in the state of Washington and Georgia. New York and California could also soon use GPS -based technology to help fight a recent national point in traffic death.

“It is a horror that no one should have to live,” said Amy Cohen, who founded the victims' defense groupFamilies for safe streetsAfter his 12 -year -old son Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed by an excess driver in front of their New York house over ten years ago.

Transform tragedy into activism

Andrea Hudson, 38, the mini-duties that was killed when Jones lit a red light, built a backyard greenhouse with her husband to help educate several children who harm the houses during the school day, said his father, Ted Smith.

Also killed in the March 2024 accident near Hudson's home in Renton, Washington, were Boyd “Buster” Brown and Eloise Wilcoxson, both 12 years old, and Matilda Wilcoxson, 13. The two children of Hudson were seated on the passenger side and survived, but they spent weeks in a hospital.

“You always hear about these horrible accidents, and it's still far away, you don't know anyone. But all of a sudden, it's my daughter,” said Smith. “This guy did not make a gap or braking. And it was just a missile.”

Smith knew the representative of the state of Washington, husband Leavitt, who stretched her hand to offer condolences and tell him that she sponsored legislation to demand assistance devices with smart speed as usual as usualspeedersTo recover their suspended licenses.

Leavitt predicts that it will have an even more powerful impact than the revocation of driving privileges, citing studies showing that three -quarters of people who lose their licenses put themselves in stealing anyway.

Between 2019 and 2024, the State experienced a 200% increase in drivers mentioned to go at least 50 MPH (80 km / h) compared to the speed limit, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

“I guess I don't understand why someone is forced to want to drive so quickly,” said Leavitt. “But if they choose to drive so quickly with the speed limiter, they cannot. It will stop them in their footsteps.”

The measure, which Washington legislators adopted last month and the Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson should 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, did not receive a speed ticket in his two previous accidents, he would probably not have been forced to use the speed limiter before the fatal. And because this could be 2029 before the law takes effect, the judge's requirement during the conviction only applies to his time of probation after being released from prison, said Smith.

Evolution of a safety tool

Competing technological companies that have united their strengths to put pressure on the ignition locking requirements for drivers with drivers have worked again in unison in recent years to present intelligent speed aid.

Brandy Nannini, director of government affairs at a manufacturer, Grapevine, Smart Start based in Texas, said that fleet vehicles, including school buses in the country's capital, have been trying it for years.

But it took a lot of refinement before GPS technology could instantly recognize the gear limit changes and force vehicles with the devices installed to adapt accordingly.

“We now have many more satellites in the sky,” said Ken Denton, a retired police officer who is the director of compliance in Lifesafer, based in Cincinnati, who is part of the Coalition of Companies.

When mandated by the court, the devices would prevent cars from exceeding speed limits or regardless of threshold regulators. A replacement button allows speed in case of emergency, but states may decide to activate it and the authorities are alerted each time the button is pushed.

A more passive version, which beep to alert drivers when they go too fast, is necessary for new cars of the European Union. California Gov. Gavin Newsomoppose his veto to a similar proposalLast year, the explanation of vehicle safety requirements was set by the federal government and feared that a patchwork of states laws could arouse confusion.

Parents take the cause

Before Del. Patrick Hope accepts to sponsor the proposal in the Virginie Legislative Assembly, he tried the device in Nannini's car, which was calibrated so as not to go more than 9 MPH (14 km / h) on the speed limit.

“It was my first question: is it sure?” Hope said.

Not only did he go convinced that it was sure, but hope now wonders whether to install him on the cars of his three children, who are all new drivers.

For people mandated by a court, the price could be heavy: $ 4 per day and installation costs of $ 100. The costs would be reduced for low -income offenders.

Cohen with Families for Safe Streets, which provides support services for those close to accident victims, knows with first -hand the type of impact that Speeders of slowdown can make. A year after his son was struck and killed in front of their apartment in New York, another boy was injured in the same place.

Until then, the speed limit of the road had been lowered.

“This boy lived when he was hit, and mine did not do it,” she said. “When you leave a few kilometers more slowly, there is more time to stop. And when you hit someone, it is much less likely to be fatal.”

This story was initially presented on Fortune.com