People convicted of dangerous driving offenses in North Carolina could soon be forced to drive the speed limit — no matter how hard they try to floor the accelerator.
Republican state lawmakers, an insurance lobbyist and family members of crash victims came together at the General Assembly Wednesday to promote a change to state law: Using artificial intelligence and Global Positioning System technology to remotely block certain people’s cars from going above the speed limit, or from accelerating quickly.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Speed-related fatalities in North Carolina have declined in recent years. But supporters of the effort say there are still too many drivers who have no respect for human life and a long record of dangerous driving, and they need to be stopped. Targeting those with a history of dangerous driving and speeding, they say, can save lives as well as combat rising insurance premiums for everyone in the state.
Allison Simpson of Durham recalled the day in 2022 when she and her two young children watched her husband Matt Simpson die. They were biking home together from the Museum of Life and Science when a speeding driver took her husband’s life.
“My children should have their dad walking them into school,” Simpson said. “This Sunday, we should be celebrating our wedding anniversary together. It doesn't have to be this way for other families. The ‘Stop Super Speeders’ bill targets the most dangerous drivers — the worst of the worst — the small percentage of drivers causing a disproportionate share of traffic deaths and serious injuries.”
Privacy advocates have opposed governments’ use of high-tech tools in some public safety applications. But Rep. Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake, said he hopes his colleagues in the Republican-led legislature don’t see this idea as Big Brother-style government overreach. Rather, it’s a necessary repercussion for anti-social behavior, says Schietzelt, the bill’s lead sponsor. The technology he’s proposing wouldn’t surveil or limit all drivers. Instead, it would only be installed in the cars of people who are convicted of dangerous driving offenses.
“We want to be tough on offenders who are putting people's lives at risk, but we want to be smart about the way that we're doing it,” Schietzelt said. “We have used license revocation, and we have used license suspension for many, many years. … Obviously, we still have a problem.”
To that point — court records show that Omari Newsome, the man who was convicted of killing Simpson’s husband, had dozens of traffic, drug and other offenses prior to slamming into his bike four years ago.
“The driver who hit my husband was speeding and was driving with a revoked license,” Simpson said Wednesday. “He had been caught driving with a revoked license 28 times prior to killing my husband. Revoking licenses does not work. We need another tool in our toolbox.”
Court records also show that Newsome was sentenced to spend between 23 and 37 months in prison and has since been released. Last year he was clocked speeding at 86 miles per hour on a highway in Greensboro, and he was later pulled over in Hillsborough and cited for possessing an open container of alcohol in a car.
The speeding case was dismissed by the Guilford County District Attorney’s office. The open container case is still pending in Orange County. Court records don't list an attorney for him in either of those recent cases. His lawyer from the 2022 case didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ryan Moeller supported the bill Wednesday in honor of his mother, Joan Drake, who was killed in Johnston County — an innocent bystander caught up in two other drivers’ road rage, he said. The driver was a 17-year-old, police told WRAL at the time. He was going 98 miles per hour when he slammed into her car as she was pulling out of a Walmart in Clayton, Moeller said.
“He was road-raging with another driver that day, who sped away, fled the scene, was never identified, never caught,” Moeller said. “My mom was not able to leave the scene.”
Schietzelt’s bill wouldn’t require someone convicted of a dangerous driving offense to permanently keep the anti-speeding technology installed in their car. It would only last a year. But he said he hopes that’s enough to create permanent change, by getting them used to driving responsibly.
“We're using this as an opportunity to change behaviors,” he said.