Washington is trying to save lives with GPS. Imagine your car won’t let you go faster than you should, as if your car had an invisible limit. Well, maybe you won’t need to imagine it anymore, because this is what is going to happen very soon in Washington State thanks to a new law called the BEAM Act.
Using the GPS has been sometimes the reason for traffic fines, but this time GPS is going to stop accidents caused by speed excess. So, let’s learn more about this initiative.
What’s the BEAM Act?
This law was approved by Washington’s governor, Bob Ferguson, and its goal is simple: if a driver has already had serious issues for going too fast or driving in a dangerous way, he or she will have to install a special device in the car that will control the speed using GPS.
This is expected to start working in January of 2029. From that moment, reoffending drivers won’t be able to drive faster than it’s allowed in each area.
How does this invention with GPS work?
The secret is in the GPS, which we normally use to find the way to go somewhere so we don’t get lost. And this is how it will work:
- The GPS detects the speed limit of the road you’re on.
- It then makes sure the car can’t go past that limit.
- Even if the driver pushes the pedal to the floor, the car simply won’t speed up beyond what’s allowed.
Someone involved in the project explained that if you’d like to go 35 miles per hour in a 25 miles-per-hour area, you couldn’t. You can press your foot as hard as you can, but your car won’t go faster. Basically, it’s like having a driving teacher next to you watching you don’t break the rules.
Importance of this project
In Washington there have been many death accidents because of speed excess. One of the most shocking and saddest accidents occurred in March of 2024 in King County. What happened was that a driver, called Chase Jones, was going too fast and caused an accident in which four people died (two of them were kids of 12 years old and a 13-year-old boy).
This made a huge impact on the entire state and families of the victims worked hard for a change. The father of one of the victims said that this technology could have saved four lives.
The BEAM Act’s aim
It’s not that difficult to understand what this law wants to achieve: reduce accidents and avoid more families losing their beloved ones because of reckless drivers. So, safer roads for drivers, bikers, and pedestrians; less risk of reckless drivers putting communities in danger; and peace of mind for families who have already suffered too much.
This GPS is key to making this a reality. Thanks to this technology, cars will automatically know which is the speed limit in each place and no car will be able to exceed it.
What if someone cheats?
Of course, there will be some drivers who won’t like to have this type of control over them. So, if they try to manipulate or deactivate the device, they will be fined and legal consequences will be serious.
A safer future
The BEAM Act is more than just a regular law, it’s a way to change the driving culture in Washington. The idea is to have less accidents caused by speed excess and make roads a safer place for everybody. And all of this will be possible thanks to a system we use everyday on our mobile phones and cars: GPS. Do you think this project is going to be useful or not?