A significant number of people who are ultimately arrested for a DUI offense are initially stopped due to speeding. This is intriguing because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stated in its DUI enforcement manuals that speeding is not an indicator of impaired driving.
Nonetheless, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 28% of fatal crashes in 2022 were related to speeding, killing over 12,000 people that year. Legislators in the state of Washington have decided to use technology to address the problem, which is particularly prevalent in that state. A news article published in “TheStreet,” highlights 2025 Washington House Bill 1596, which proposes allowing drivers with suspended licenses to continue operating vehicles with a designated “intelligent speed-restricted” license.
Eligible drivers for this restricted license are those whose regular licenses have been suspended due to accumulating excessive moving violations, including “excessive speeding” (over 20 mph above the posted limit) or a conviction of reckless driving. To drive with this speed-restricted license, drivers must install an “intelligent speed assistance device” in their vehicle, which, in the past, was commonly referred to as a speed governor.
Using GPS technology, the vehicle is then restricted to a speed that does not exceed the posted speed limit on the road of travel. Drivers have the option to override this technology three times per month without incurring additional penalties. Notably, the Commonwealth of Virginia has also adopted a similar law.
However, it remains to be seen what safeguards will be in place to address potential disputes or violations of this law, particularly when the GPS limit is lower than the actual speed limit posted on the road.
The primary objective of this proposed law is to encourage more individuals to comply with the law by providing a legal means for them to operate vehicles with speed restrictions. This approach aims to enforce the law without the need to hire additional law enforcement officers.
About the Author: Steven Oberman has been licensed in Tennessee since 1980, and successfully defended over 2,500 DUI defendants. Steve was the first lawyer in Tennessee to be Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. (NCDD). Among the many honors bestowed upon him, Steve has served as Dean of the NCDD and currently serves as chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DUI Committee.
He is the author of DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee, updated annually since 1991 (Thomson-West), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor (1942 – 2023) of the national treatise, Drunk Driving Defense, 9th edition (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen). Steve has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993 and has received a number of prestigious awards for his faculty contributions. He is a popular international speaker, having spoken at legal seminars in 30 states, the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries. After being named a Fulbright Scholar, Steve was honored to teach as a Visiting Professor at the University of Latvia Faculty of Law (Law School) in the capital city of Riga, Latvia for a semester during 2019. In 2023, Steve accepted an offer to teach for a semester as a Visiting Professor at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law in Budapest, Hungary. Steve was designated a Fulbright Scholar for a second time and taught American Criminal Law and American Trial Advocacy at The University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law in the capital city of Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 2024 spring semester. Since then, Steve taught American Trial Advocacy to Masters Students in Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law for the Winter Semester in 2025 at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Faculty of Law in Madrid, Spain. If you would like to contact the author, please visit his website at www.tndui.com.
