Using Proven Tools to Slow Speeds & Save Lives

by Reetu Pethani

High speeds remain a leading cause of traffic deaths and severe injuries in the United States – even as the tools to tame speeds and prevent tragedies become more effective and accessible. We highlighted some of the most promising – and underused – speed management tools in our January 2026 webinar.

Led by Visiting Senior Research Fellow Ivan Cheung, we looked back on the 2017 National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Report, Reducing Speeding-Related Crashes Involving Passenger Vehicles, a pivotal study that brought national attention to the role of speed in traffic fatalities and issued important safety recommendations to federal agencies, states and others. Much of the Report’s findings can still help guide our Vision Zero work today.

“In the six years between 2018 and 2023, over 67,000 people were lost in speeding-related crashes. Do you know where the Super Bowl will be held? Levi’s Stadium (in Santa Clara, CA) has a capacity of 68,500. Imagine filling up the Super Bowl stadium with all that we had lost in only six years since the publication of the 2017 report. That is not acceptable.”

– Ivan Cheung, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Vision Zero Network

We were joined by Ellen Lee, NTSB Division Chief for report development, and Jessica Cicchino, Senior Vice President of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), to focus on two proven but still underutilized speed management tools: Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and speed safety cameras.

Here is the direct link to the recording, and here are the links to Jessica Cicchino's and Ellen Lee's slides.

We’ve made progress in the past decade in bringing greater attention and action to the urgent need to manage vehicle speeds for safety – as recounted in our recent “Top 10 Signs of Vision Zero Progress.” Today, more communities are working to redesign their roads and add traffic calming measures, as well as lower speed limits, encouraging people to drive safer speeds – with positive safety results that show that we know how to improve safety on our streets.

To complement the core actions of designing roads and setting limits for safe speeds in a Safe System manner, the influential 2017 NTSB speed report, also recommends using safety technologies that are well-proven but under-used in the U.S., including Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and speed safety cameras.

Advancing ISA: A Proven Tool with Growing Momentum

Despite what many think, ISA is not a new technology. It has been used effectively for many years in Europe to manage speeds for safety and is already present, in various forms, in many U.S. vehicles today.

Since 2012, the NTSB has been recommending ISA in commercial vehicles. And, first in 2017 then again in 2023, the NTSB recommended ISA in passenger vehicles. These recommendations were based on thorough crash investigations and long standing research showing ISA’s ability to prevent severe crashes. For instance, ISA is found to be especially effective in tackling “chronic speeders,” a problematic group of drivers that do not respond to traditional enforcement and education countermeasures but cause outsized risks.

An investigation of a high-profile 2022 crash in North Las Vegas that killed nine people reinforced this point. Despite the driver having multiple, prior speeding violations, gaps in data sharing and court record systems allowed this repeat offender to continue driving at extreme speeds and with fatal consequences.

As Ellen Lee, of the NTSB, explained during the webinar: “We found that some of the traditional speeding countermeasures, such as enforcement, education, and engineering, were less effective in this case, and that vehicle technology can play an important role to help ensure safe speeds.”

In cases like this, vehicle-based technology such as ISA, including aftermarket systems used as speed interlocks, can serve as a critical safeguard, similar to the proven effectiveness of ignition interlocks to curb impaired driving.

Notably, ISA is more acceptable than you may guess. As the IIHS’ Jessica Cicchino shared during the webinar, 83% of U.S. adults think active ISA would benefit reckless drivers.  This growing acceptance is helping fuel new policy efforts and real-world applications across the country.

Momentum is growing to use active ISA to rein in dangerous super-speeders, with our advocacy partners at Families for Safe Streets leading the way. The Commonwealth of Virginia, Washington State, and DC have already enacted laws. Nine other states have introduced bills to do so with even more anticipated. (Learn more about the Stop Super Speeders campaign.)

Another important but also under-used area for ISA is in improving fleet safety.  New York City, with help from Volpe, is demonstrating a classical way to scale up an effective safety program. It started small as a pilot. They documented the effectiveness and used transparency to make in-roads. It is now expanding. From one vehicle type to another, from one agency to another.

Speed Safety Cameras: Growing Use & Using Them Wisely

Similar to ISA, speed safety cameras, when appropriately planned, operated, and monitored, are highly effective in reducing dangerous speeding, especially among the top end speeders, who cause the most risks.

The 2017 NTSB speed report found that the lack of state-level automated speed enforcement (ASE) enabling legislation, and restrictions on the use of ASE in states where legislation exists, have led to underuse of this effective speeding countermeasure. As a result, the report made several recommendations including expanding and modernizing state ASE laws; updating federal guidance to reflect best practices for equitable, data-driven deployment; and supporting wider use of tools such as point-to-point speed enforcement to address chronic speeding on longer roadway segments.

Since then, some progress has been made. The number of U.S. communities using speed safety cameras programs grew from 142 in 2017 to 338 in 2025, according to IIHS. However, many state laws are very restrictive about their use, while seven states still outright ban the use of these lifesaving tools.

Studies show an estimated 20% – 37% reduction in roadway fatalities and injuries when speed safety cameras are used, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Well-document examples range from Montgomery County, MD, to New York City, NY. And San Francisco’s new pilot program shows a 72% decrease in speeding at camera locations.

Importantly, camera programs need to be crafted and monitored carefully to ensure effective and equitable use. Vision Zero Network has collaborated with other road safety leaders to encourage thoughtful, equitable use of speed safety cameras. Check out, Fair Warnings: Recommendations to Promote Equity in Speed Safety Camera Programs, for best practices that focus on thoughtful, careful use.

Other helpful speed safety cameras include the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) excellent 2023 Speed Safety Camera Program Planning and Operations Guide; the Governors’ Highway Safety Association report; and this checklist developed by a group of safety organizations, including IIHS.

National surveys show that while baseline support for speed safety cameras is mixed, acceptance increases significantly in communities where they are implemented, and remains high over time. In places like Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., support has remained high even years after implementation, including among drivers who have received citations.

As IIHS’ Jessica Cicchino shared during the webinar, “We tend to see higher acceptance in communities that are using speed safety cameras, and we also tend to see that acceptance go up after the cameras go into place.”

Next Steps: Take a First Step

It is clear that we need to devote more attention, urgency, and action to managing speeds for safety. It is also clear that, today, we have more readily available and proven tools to do just that – if leaders and communities act to use them.

As webinar presenters emphasized: progress does not require waiting for perfect conditions. Even if communities lack the ideal situation of strong leadership and perfect policy positions, they can act to manage speeds for safety in important nearer term ways. For instance, pilot programs can help communities test out ISA programs, such as on fleets (Join our February 19, 2026 webinar to learn more!), and speed safety cameras, such as in high-injury locations and school and work zones. In addition to learning important lessons of what works best, pilots also offer the chance to let community members build awareness and acceptance.

Importantly, and as webinar presenters emphasized, ISA and speed safety cameras should not be considered stand-alone interventions but rather complementary speed safety tools that support the most important speed management efforts focused on designing roads and setting limits to encourage safe speeds.