Residents of this one state must take note of new urban driving laws. For the past year, lawmakers across the country have been implementing harsher crackdowns on drivers who are found to be exceeding speed limits, thereby putting not only their own but also other people’s lives in danger. With the constant updates to road traffic and safety regulations, it may be difficult for drivers to keep up with new legal requirements, especially considering that speeding laws seem to always be under review.
Keeping all lives safe on the road
Many states have adopted a ‘Vision Zero’ goal for their roads, hoping to see that no road accident fatalities or injuries occur on the roads. One way to get there has been to showcase zero tolerance for excessively speeding drivers. When you drive on the road, it is your personal responsibility on the road to showcase that you are going to follow all driving laws and practices, and that includes adhering to speed limits.
However, speeding laws are constantly broken, meaning that states need to resort to more drastic measures in order to ensure that drivers start taking these pieces of legislation seriously. Updates changes to stamp out speeding include increasing fines and penalty severity associated with speeding, employing automated camera technology in order to monitor the roads, and even changing the speeding laws altogether.
New urban driving law updates in this state
While the year is almost over, that has not stopped states from rolling out new legislative implementation dates for new speeding policies to take place. For example, come October 1, the state of Maryland is set to implement harsher penalties for excessively speeding drivers. These new penalties include: fines of up to $1,000 as well as 60 days’ worth of jail time if you are convicted of reckless driving, as well as fines of up to $750 for negligent driving. In addition to these policy changes, the state is also reviewing new legislation that will see increased fines for drivers driving 30mph over the speed limit.
Joining those states that are coming down hard on speeding laws, Illinois House Bill 2934 will see, also starting from October 1, see that urban locations in the state will have the speed limit lowered from 30mph to 20mph. Additional locations will have the speed limit lowered from 15mph to 10mph:
“Provides that, on and after October 1, 2025, the default speed limit is 20 (instead of 30) miles per hour within an urban district, and 10 (instead of 15) miles per hour in an alley within an urban district,” describes House Bill 2934.
The rise in automated camera technology
In addition to lowering overall speed limits, states are also increasingly relying upon automated camera technology to assist them with catching speeding drivers who continue to not adhere to changes to speeding laws or retained speed limits. States such as New York have been making use of this technology for years, with New York City alone boasting over 2,200 automated speeding cameras across the city.
“It’s simple: speed cameras save lives and keep New Yorkers safe,” Governor Kathy Hochul said regarding the expansion of New York City’s speed camera program into 2030. “There is no greater priority for me than the safety of New Yorkers…” she added.
On top of automation technology to assist lawmakers, states are also adding additional fines if caught speeding by these cameras. In San Francisco, for example, the state has begun to implement automated camera technology across 33 locations, with drivers facing fines between $50 to $500 depending on the severity of the speeding violation. While the program was implemented in March of this year, the city only started to roll out these fines in August after a probation and warning period to get drivers accustomed to the cameras’ presence.
