After deadly crashes, states move to stop ‘super speeders’ with in-car technology
After deadly crashes, states move to stop ‘super speeders’ with in-car technology
Publish Date: 2026-04-09 12:14:00
Source Domain: thenationaldesk.com
(SOA) — A growing number of states are cracking down on some of the most dangerous drivers on the road — so-called “super speeders,” repeat offenders who push far beyond the limit — with a new kind of penalty: technology that can physically stop them from speeding.
The push comes as victims and safety advocates warn that extreme speeders are responsible for a disproportionate share of deadly crashes.
Deborah O’Garro-Kelly knows that reality firsthand.
She and her husband were walking to the post office when a driver struck them in a Washington, D.C., crosswalk in a school zone. She survived. Her husband, Alton, who was legally blind, did not. Investigators say he was dragged 900 feet — the length of three football fields — before the driver sped away.
It took 10 months before he was arrested and charged with, among other things, reckless driving: going at least 20-miles an hour over the speed limit, or showing conscious disregard for the safety of others.
“I just feel numb. I feel like I’m in the world, but I feel numb. I feel like this man stole my life,” said O’Garro-Kelly.
The couple had been married for four and a half years, but had known each other since she was 17. She described her husband as someone who made people laugh and feel special.
“It’s sad that a human being could get ran over like they a piece of trash. And I wish I could have saved my husband,” she said through tears.
O’Garro-Kelly was unconscious after the crash. She suffered broken bones in her back, pelvis, right leg and left hip. She spent a month in the hospital and has undergone four surgeries, with more ahead.
“It changed my life tremendously. I was a healthy person. I worked. I went from one medication to nine different medications,” she said.
Traffic safety advocates say cases like O’Garro-Kelly’s are not isolated incidents.
“One in every four fatal crashes involves speeding,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
Chase said a…
