Vehicles: safety equipment.

Existing law prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than the speed limit. Existing law also prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed that endangers the safety of persons or property. This bill would require, commencing with the 2030 model year, every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured, sold as new, or leased as new in the state to be equipped with a passive intelligent speed assistance system, as specified, that would utilize a brief, one-time, visual and audio signal to alert the driver each time the speed of the vehicle is more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. The bill would exempt emergency vehicles, certain motortrucks, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, mopeds, and certain passenger vehicles from this requirement. The bill would require the system to be capable of being fully disabled, by the manufacturer or a franchisee, for emergency vehicles. The bill would require the system, if the system receives conflicting speed limits for the same area, to apply the higher speed limit. A violation of the above requirements would be punishable as a crime. By creating a new criminal offense, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.