Victims of road rage, activists for safer roads and streets, and leaders of traffic safety organizations from across Southern California publicly pressured Governor Gavin Newsom to sign a pair of bills: SB 961 (Scott Weiner) and SB 1509 (Henry Stern).
“Speed is the single most important factor behind all traffic deaths and serious injuries in California,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE).
“Simply put, speed kills,” he said outside the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Los Angeles, where Newsom’s offices are located.
According to a SAFE report, pedestrians in Los Angeles are more likely to be injured or killed, especially when parents are going to work and children are going to school.
Based on data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), Kevitt said that since 2015, the city of Los Angeles has seen an 81 percent increase in traffic fatalities and a 108 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities since 2015.
Likewise, in 2023, 37.8% of all collisions were caused by speeding.
If signed into law, SB 1509 would increase liability for driving at unsafe speeds by assigning two points for repeated speeding violations within three years and create a graduated fine schedule based on the number of violations within a year.
Meanwhile, SB 961 is the first initiative that would substantially change the rules of the game.
The bill, which is being pushed by traffic safety advocates, would require vehicle manufacturers to install speed warning technology — an audible and visual alert when drivers are driving more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit — on all vehicles manufactured or sold in California.
The initiative excludes emergency vehicles and motorcycles, starting in 2030.
Technology that saves lives
According to SB 961 supporters, this technology is not new, as Toyota already offers it as a standard feature for all new cars, and it is already required in Europe, and, with this law, it would be required as a standard for all car manufacturers.
The auto industry opposes SB 961 and continues to design vehicles that are dramatically faster than previous generations.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2022 Automotive Trends Report, the average 2021 model-year American vehicle could hit 60 miles per hour in just 7.7 seconds.
This speed is approximately twice as fast as cars purchased in the early 1980s.
Plus, electric vehicles are even faster than the average American vehicle, with many reaching 60 miles per hour in just a few seconds.
While advanced safety measures may protect drivers and passengers in these vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists outside the cars are being struck and killed in greater numbers than in the past, protesters said.
“The truth is that the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world with a worsening trend in road violence,” said Damian Kevitt, who has personally been a victim of road violence.
In 2013, while riding his bike in Griffith Park, he was hit by a motorist and was trapped under the car and dragged for nearly a quarter mile. He lost a leg as a result of the accident and now uses a prosthetic limb.
A mother’s faith
Another victim of the aggressiveness of those who drive at excessive speed was the child Michael León Bermúdez, who was only 13 years old when he died.
On January 8, 2023, Michael was returning from the laundromat with his father and younger sister, Tania. They were crossing El Segundo Boulevard in the city of Hawthorne.
“It was a Sunday, when there was almost no traffic,” recalled Eva Leon, the boy’s mother. “Suddenly, a car came at high speed; my husband managed to push the girl back, but the car hit him and Michael… my boy lost his life.”
“Michael is a child who protects others; he has given a lot of light to those who knew his life,” said the woman from Jalisco. “I have felt his presence from heaven, and every time I think of Michael, because of my faith in God, he lifts me up and tells me, ‘Mommy, I love you. I’m fine.’”
Supporters of SB 961 and SB 1509 are optimistic that both will be enacted into law because they say they don’t want anyone else to die from road rage.
Thousands die due to speed on the streets
They said that in 2022 alone, a total of 4,520 people died on California’s roads and highways. For 25% of those fatalities, speeding was the most important factor.
In Los Angeles, fatalities totaled 2,023, which was considered the highest record for traffic deaths in nearly 50 years. Again, in more than 37% of collisions and deaths, speeding played a major role.
“If the automotive industry is going to make cars and trucks that encourage drivers to go too fast, there needs to be vehicle technology that helps counteract this,” said Damian Kevitt.
“Sixty years ago, when states wanted to mandate seat belts in cars, the auto industry opposed them. But today, no one would question seat belts as a necessary safety measure. Intelligent speed assistance in vehicles is no different,” he added.
In 1961, Wisconsin was the first state to require seat belts in all vehicles, which eventually led to a federal law mandating them. Seat belts are credited with saving more than 500,000 lives in the United States.
And, with tears streaming down her face, Cindi Enamorado spoke of her brother Raymond Olivares, who died when he was brutally run over by a speeding vehicle.
Raymond, 27, and his fiancée, María Rivas Cruz, were run over by a driver who lost control of the wheel and fled after having participated in an illegal street occupation.
“My brother is not supposed to leave,” Cindi said. Raymond was an engineer working for the city of Los Angeles.
He remembers his niece with love
On May 11, 2019, Bethany Holguín, 23, Lori Argumedo’s niece, was struck by a young man driving 100 miles per hour in a residential area of the Willowbrook neighborhood.
“He ran a stop sign, hit her knees with all his force and my niece died on the spot,” Lori Argumedo told Real America News. “She didn’t actually die instantly. She woke up briefly and a passerby [Fabiola Rodríguez] “He tried to help her. She called out for help. The young girl took her hand and my niece breathed her last, holding on to the hand of a stranger.”
The autopsy report indicated that every bone in his body had been broken.
“Bethany was only 23 years old and had her whole life ahead of her,” Lori Argumedo said. “She was going to school.
“I wanted to be a nurse and I was so excited that I would be helping save people’s lives, and instead, my life was taken from me in just 15 seconds.”
Lori commented that, although her niece will not be able to be a nurse and save lives, by sharing her testimony she is joining the efforts to have SB 961 and SB 1509 bills become law, which will be the way to prevent deaths due to road violence.
“My niece and I always smiled even when we didn’t have a conversation. She had many plans for our future, and unfortunately we won’t be able to do them together now. But when we meet again, I know we have a lot to talk about,” said Lori Argumedo.
Governor Gavin Newsom has until September 31 to sign or veto legislation.
Because it was the weekend, his office could not be reached.