Virginia Making ‘Super Speeders’ Install GPS-Powered Speed-Limiters. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Virginia has punished reckless drivers by mandating that they install a speed-limiter through a program that took effect in July, raising due-process concerns about how the information collected by this technology might be abused by governments.
Virginia has punished reckless drivers by mandating that they install a speed-limiter through a program that took effect in July, raising due-process concerns about how governments might abuse the information collected by this technology.
Virginia’s Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) program requires drivers convicted of speeding over 100 MPH to install a GPS-monitored speed-limiter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The technology collects precise GPS locations of drivers to determine the speed limit on any given road and physically prevents drivers from speeding, raising concerns that the tech could be used as part of a surveillance state similar to objections raised against Flock Safety license plate readers.
The ISA devices collect information managed by the Virginia state government, according to the advocacy group Families For Safer Streets. The information includes GPS location, direction of travel and the speed of the vehicle. There are no explicit restrictions on the use of ISA data in the new Virginia law; however, the Virginia state Legislature proposed a bill in October to provide guardrails on the use of the collected data.
The proposed regulations do not mandate the deletion of GPS data, only requiring that the collected data remains confidential.
Maryland passed a similar “Super Speeder” law set to be fully implemented by 2027. Democratic state Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher of Maryland acknowledged the privacy concerns.
“This isn’t being installed in all vehicles it’s being installed only in the vehicles of super speeders,” Waldstreicher told