New York motorists who rack up 16 or more camera-issued speeding tickets in a single year will soon be forced to install government-mandated speed-limiting technology in their vehicles.
According to The Post Millennial, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the measure on Wednesday as part of the state budget package, with the law scheduled to take effect in one year. The legislation targets repeat offenders flagged by automated enforcement systems rather than by police officers exercising on-the-spot judgment.
The so?called "Super Speeder Crackdown" applies to violations captured by school?zone and red?light cameras, expanding the reach of New Yorks already controversial traffic surveillance network. "We have to protect people and if someone is so flagrantly violating the laws that there's a callous disregard of human life that's the only way I can describe it there have to be consequences, have to be," Hochul said at the bill?signing event.
Under the new mandate, any driver who accumulates 16 or more such tickets within a year must install Intelligent Speed Limiter technology in their vehicle. The device connects to the cars onboard computer and uses GPS data to physically prevent the vehicle from exceeding posted speed limits, effectively handing speed control to software rather than the driver.
The program builds on New York Citys school?zone camera regime, under which vehicle owners receive a $50 ticket in the mail when their car is recorded traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the limit at one of 750 school?zone cameras. The new law is explicitly designed to target drivers who continue to incur fines without changing their behavior, moving from financial penalties to direct mechanical control.
"If you don't install it after 45 days, you lose your registration and you should not be on the roads if you don't care about whether or not you're going to kill somebody," Hochul warned, underscoring the punitive nature of the measure. Critics concerned with civil liberties and limited government are likely to see this as another step toward a surveillance?heavy, nanny?state approach that treats all motorists as potential criminals.
With this legislation, New York aligns itself with Washington State, Washington, DC, and Virginia, jurisdictions that have already embraced similar mandates. For many drivers who value personal responsibility and freedom behind the wheel, the debate now centers on whether public safety justifies allowing the state to reach directly into the engine bay and override individual judgment.
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