New York lawmakers are advancing a proposal that would require repeat speeding offenders to install new “intelligent speed assistance” devices in their vehicles, a move supporters say could prevent some of the city’s most dangerous drivers from reaching deadly speeds.

The devices, which use GPS technology to cap a car’s maximum speed based on the posted limit, were demonstrated for reporters Wednesday in Brooklyn. Lawmakers say the technology, already piloted in parts of New York City’s municipal fleet, could finally force accountability on the small but persistent group of drivers responsible for thousands of speeding violations.

“This technology does work,” state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), a co-sponsor of the Stop Super Speeders Act, said during the demonstration. “For a small stubborn subset of drivers, there is no adequate remedy right now. We need to do something different.”

Under the bill, drivers who rack up 16 or more speed-camera violations in a year — or accumulate 11 DMV points within 18 months — would be required to install speed limiters for up to one year. Court orders would follow the driver, not the vehicle, ensuring offenders cannot simply switch cars to bypass the mandate.

Judges could set a buffer of up to 5 mph above the posted limit. The devices would automatically adjust their speed caps when entering new zones, including highways, local roads, and school zones.

The measure is aimed at roughly 3,000 of the city’s worst offenders. Each device costs about $1,000.

“For the top 10 super speeders, we’re talking more than 2,700 speed-camera violations last year alone,” Gounardes said. “If we can stop even 1,000 or 2,000 of the most dangerous vehicles in our city, then we can save lives.”

Momentum around the bill has grown in the wake of several high-profile fatal crashes. Gounardes pointed to a horrific collision on Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway last year that killed a mother and her two children. The driver responsible had 90 speeding-related violations at the time.

“If this tech were in place, they would still be alive today,” he said.

Darnell Sealy-McCrorey, whose 13-year-old daughter Niyell was struck and killed by a speeding SUV in Upper Manhattan in 2024, joined lawmakers to support the bill.

“I never thought her mother and I would be burying our daughter so soon,” he said, standing above the Prospect Parkway overpass. “If we don’t do something, another life is going to be taken.”

The proposal mirrors efforts already underway in Washington, D.C., and Virginia. New York City also ran a 2022 pilot program equipping municipal vehicles with speed limiters, which officials say has sharply reduced dangerous driving. The city plans to install the technology in 7,000 non-emergency vehicles.

Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn), a co-sponsor, said the aim is not to prevent drivers from going to work or transporting their children, but to build safer driving habits.

“You can still pick up your kids, you can still get to your job,” Carroll said. “You just can’t drive recklessly.”

The measure passed the state Senate last year but stalled in the Assembly. Gounardes said he remains optimistic it will advance this session, citing mounting public pressure and growing consensus around the need for stronger enforcement tools.

“We’ve expanded red-light cameras, we’ve expanded speed cameras — but for some drivers, it’s not enough,” he said. “This is an outside-the-box solution to an inside-the-box problem.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)