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When I rented a U-Haul, there was a speed governor that prevented me from going over 75, the maximum speed limit in nearly all of the US. In no part of the US is it legal to go over 85. So why do we register vehicles that can go 97? https://twitter.com/Gothamist/status/1330580079953448961
If I were to speed on an escooter, the only person I'm likely to kill is myself. If I were to speed in car, I could easily kill dozens of people. And yet cities like DC require speed governors for escooters but not cars. Why? https://dcist.com/story/20/10/20/new-dc-rules-on-scooters-and-ebikes/
The death of Daniel Crawford was a policy choice. We have chosen that we don't mind so many thousands of people like him dying each year. Again, why? We already regulate every minor detail of registered vehicles. Why do regulators affirmatively choose to allow speeding?
I legitimately want to hear a steelman for why we shouldn't require speed governors, because I don't see how you can stake out that position without having to take a self-evidently absurd stance against other registration requirements, like headlamps or catalytic converters.
I have the hunch that the closest thing we will get to a coherent anti-speed governor argument will be something like "the cost of adding them doesn't justify the benefit of hundreds of thousands of lives saved." But let's play that game with some back-of-the-envelope math!
There are 273.6 million cars in the US. Most governors seem to run around ~$75; let's add $25 for labor, meaning it costs around $100 to install a speed governor. So universal speed governors would entail a one-time cost $27.36 billion...
That's the cost side. But what about the benefits? Around 10,000 Americans die each year from speeding. Let's go with the standard that each life is worth around $10 million. (Don't @ me.) That means the total annual cost of speeding-related death is $100 billion...
By my estimate, assuming a speed governor mandate went into effect on January 1, it would pay for itself by...March. From then on, it's all gravy. Only way out of this is for you to (a) undervalue human life or (b) apply some absurd value to the antisocial pleasure of speeding.
A well-taken critique: many speeding deaths may have occurred without speeding (drunk driving) and may not approach the maximum (going 50 in a 25 zone). So let's assume that only a 1/4 of speeding deaths clear these exceptions. The program still pays for itself in 13 months.
A less compelling critique: "Wouldn't people just remove it?" This is a problem with all mandatory safety features. Won't people just tamper with the odometer? Won't people just not replace headlamps? Won't people just strip out uncomfortable seat belts?...
...in practice, virtually everyone complies, and when they don't, they're quickly caught. Speed governors would actually be easier to enforce than most mandates, since when a driver is caught going over the legal maximum, the vehicle can be deregistered pending reinspection.
