Gounardes showcases speed-limiting technology aimed at reining in super speeders

At a press conference in the South Slope on Nov. 12, State Senator Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) presented how intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology works in a real-life scenario, inviting the media to test-drive an ISA-equipped vehicle on a 10-minute route that included the Prospect Expressway and local streets.

Speed-limiting devices — known as intelligent speed assistance, or ISA, technology — would be installed in the cars of drivers who have 16 or more speed camera tickets in a year, or who accumulate 11 or more points on their license within 18 months. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

The cutting-edge safety technology, which relies on GPS and automatically adjusts to within 5 mph of the speed limit on local streets and highways even if the driver hits the pedal, is the core of Grounardes’s Stop Super Speeders Act (S.4045C/A.2299C).

Drivers with 16 speed camera tickets are twice as likely to be involved in a crash resulting in serious injury or death. The law would require the speed limiter technology to be installed in the vehicles of repeat offenders who have received 16 or more speed camera tickets in a year, or who accumulate 11 or more points on their license within 18 months.

With cars zooming along the Prospect Expressway below the overpass on 7th Avenue and 18th Street—some drivers clearly ignoring the speed limit—Gounardes highlighted the importance of the life-saving technology.

“If we can stop even 1000 or 2000 of the worst, most dangerous vehicles in our city from being able to drive recklessly, then we can save lives,” Gounardes said, noting that despite the expansion of red-light camera and speed camera programs, for “a small, stubborn subset of drivers, there was no adequate remedy in law to hold them accountable.”

State Senator Andrew Gounardes stressed that speed-limiting devices would save lives. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

According to a report by Transportation Alternatives, in 2024, the top 10 super speeders in New York averaged 271 school zone speed camera tickets each. The worst offender topped 563 violations -at least one every 16 hours- including 70 violations at Ocean Parkway and Ocean Court, less than two miles away from the Midwood intersection where another super speeder with a suspended license -75% of drivers with suspended licenses drive anyway- killed a mother and her two young daughters earlier this year.

“For the last two years, up in Albany, we have been trying to pass a law that says that the worst of the worst of the worst, reckless drivers in our city and in our state, those for whom the existing measures of accountability are inadequate because they continue to speed recklessly, they continue to put people in harm’s way,” Gounardes pointed out.

Evidence backs the technology, which is already a mainstream safety feature in vehicles in Europe. Studies have shown that ISAs can reduce crash deaths by up to 56%. Last May, Washington State passed legislation similar to the Stop Super Speeders Act. In October, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Louis A. Molina announced that ISA technology would become a standard safety feature on over 7,000 non-emergency municipal vehicles. This announcement followed the launch of an ISA pilot program in 2022, which resulted in a 64% reduction in speeding and a 36% reduction in hard brake events.

Gounardes estimates that, if passed, the legislation could slam the brakes on a few thousand reckless drivers, who would have to follow a judge’s order to install the device, which costs around $1,000.

“The cost will be borne by the person who is ordered by a judge to install the device unless there is an extenuating circumstance, and the judge can make allowances otherwise, based on the criteria we’ve outlined in the bill,” Gounardes explained. “We estimate it’ll probably be somewhere between three [and] 4,000 vehicles initially that would be subject to this law, but they are also the worst of the vehicles on our streets right now. So if we can solve that problem, we’ll move a long way towards keeping our streets safe for everybody.”

Assembly Member Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, noted that ISA technology was a “practical and smart way to stop problem speeders,” urging the state Assembly to sign off on the bill, which passed the state Senate on June 12 with a vote of 44-15.

Assembly Member Robert Carroll is one of the bill’s co-sponsors. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

“We can hear below us on the Prospect Expressway, cars zooming by, and just if you listen, you hear that there are one or two cars every few minutes going by that are going so much faster than any of the other vehicles,” Carroll noted. “It’s these individuals who are putting us all at risk, and so it’s the job of the state legislature to make sure that we can find ways to stop them from risking the lives of 1000s and 1000s of other New Yorkers.

Families for Safe Streets advocate Darnell Sealy-McCrorey is the father of 13-year-old Niyell McCrorey, who was hit by a car at the intersection of Manhattan Avenue and West 110th Street on Oct. 24, 2024, and who passed away from her injuries a week later.

Darnell Sealy-McCrorey lost his 13-year-old Niyell McCrorey to traffic violence. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Sealy-McCrorey stressed that ISAs were the “answer” to protect other families from the heartbreak his family suffered.

“That day was a day that was really the most difficult for a lot of us, the family, plus other members who suffered the same type of tragedy,” Sealy-McCrorey recalled. “But today, we can protect other families from suffering like this. If we don’t do something, another life is going to be taken. Speed limiters are the answer.”