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H 8098Personal

Motor and Other Vehicles - Super Speeder Accountability Act

This bill requires drivers with licenses suspended for severe speeding to install devices in their cars that mechanically limit speed.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 27, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

The "Super Speeder Accountability Act" creates a new requirement for drivers who have had their licenses suspended due to excessive speeding, reckless driving, or racing. To have their driving privileges reinstated, these drivers must install an Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) device in their vehicle for at least 12 months. This aftermarket GPS device actively limits the vehicle's speed to the posted speed limit. The offender is responsible for all costs associated with leasing, installing, and maintaining the device. Tampering with the device results in immediate license suspension and an extension of the mandatory ISA period.

For younger readers

This new rule is for grown-ups who drive way too fast and get in trouble for it. If a driver loses their license because they were speeding or driving dangerously, they have to put a special machine in their car to get their license back. This machine uses satellites to know the speed limit and stops the car from going faster than it is allowed to go. The driver has to pay for this machine themselves. If they try to break the machine or drive without it, they won't be allowed to drive for a longer time.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Drivers with suspended licensesISA device vendors and installersRhode Island Traffic TribunalDepartment of Motor VehiclesGeneral Motoring Public
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

Moderate risk

There is a moderate constitutional risk regarding the Fourth Amendment and privacy, as the state is mandating GPS tracking. However, courts often uphold such measures as conditions of probation or license reinstatement where driving is considered a privilege. There is also a potential Eighth Amendment risk regarding "excessive fines" if the cost of leasing and maintaining the device prevents indigent individuals from ever reinstating their licenses, effectively creating a permanent ban based on financial status.

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Prioritizes public safety and community welfare by utilizing technology to physically prevent dangerous speeding, thereby minimizing the risk of fatalities and injuries to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers.
  • Offers a restorative alternative to permanent license revocation or incarceration, allowing individuals to maintain their mobility and employment while ensuring they comply with safety laws.
  • Focuses on behavioral modification through active intervention rather than relying solely on punitive fines, which often fail to change the habits of dangerous drivers.
  • Imposes a significant financial burden on low-income offenders by requiring them to pay all costs for the device, potentially creating a two-tiered system where only the wealthy can afford to reinstate their licenses.
  • Raises serious privacy and surveillance concerns regarding the collection and retention of location data by private third-party vendors, which could be exploited or mishandled.
  • Privatizes a component of the justice system, creating profit motives for device manufacturers and installers that may conflict with the equitable administration of penalties.
For Conservatives
  • Ensures that lawbreakers bear the full financial burden of their rehabilitation by mandating they pay for the device and its installation, protecting taxpayers from funding the program.
  • Enforces strict accountability and law and order by physically preventing recidivism among individuals who have demonstrated a flagrant disregard for traffic laws and public safety.
  • Leverages private sector technology and vendors to address the issue, avoiding the expansion of government bureaucracy or the need for increased police manpower to monitor these specific drivers.
  • Represents a significant government overreach into personal property rights by mandating the installation of devices that actively control and restrict how a private citizen operates their vehicle.
  • Establishes a dangerous precedent for state surveillance of citizens' movements and location data, infringing upon personal privacy and freedom of travel.
  • Interferes with the automotive market by mandating specific aftermarket technologies and regulating liability, potentially burdening businesses and vehicle owners with new compliance requirements.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 115 additions

SECTION 1. Legislative findings and purpose.

(1) It is the intent of the legislature to keep the public safe when on the road. Excessive speeding is a leading cause of traffic fatalities and injuries. Nationwide, speed was a component in twenty-nine percent (29%) of all crash fatalities in 2022. Speeding drivers negatively impact all who use the road, including pedestrians, bikers, and other forms of transportation. The legislature finds that solutions are needed to keep the public safe on the road and to change public behavior.

(2) Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) devices offer an improved solution to address excessive speeding. Tools utilized to reduce speeding on roadways often include issuing traffic fines, suspending licenses, and impounding cars, but these solutions are no longer effective to address excessive, repeated speeding. Traffic fines do not substantially deter speeding or change behavior, and most drivers with a suspended license continue to drive. According to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, more than seventy percent (70%) of people with suspended licenses continue to drive during the suspension period.

(3) ISA technology enables individuals to continue driving, issues a meaningful penalty and facilitates driver education and training to create safer driving habits. By leveraging technology to enable individuals to continue driving, while preventing speeding, the legislature intends to enhance road safety to promote safer driving habits and keep the public safe, all of which work to directly address the issue of speeding on our roads

(4) The Legislature finds that utilizing ISA devices for high-risk drivers, particularly those with repeated speed-related violations, can prevent recidivism and provide long term traffic safety improvements.

SECTION 2. Title 31 of the General Laws entitled "MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 31-27.2-1. Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Super Speeder Accountability Act." 31-27.2-2. Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(1) "Department" means the department of motor vehicles, which oversees drivers licensing and license suspensions resulting from failure to pay fines or appear in traffic court.

(2) "Eligible offender" means a person whose license has been suspended due to a district court conviction or administrative finding by the traffic tribunal of excessive speeding, racing, or reckless driving where speed was a factor, or a person who has been convicted of multiple moving offenses and is subject to the provisions of § 31-27-24.

(3) "Excessive speeding" means traveling at twenty miles per hour (20 mph) or greater in excess of the posted speed limit, if the posted speed limit is forty miles per hour (40 mph) or less; and thirty miles per hour (30 mph) or greater in excess of the posted speed limit, if the posted speed limit is greater than forty miles per hour (40 mph).

(4) "Intelligent speed assistance device" or "ISA device" means an aftermarket device that uses GPS to actively limit the vehicle's speed to posted or pre-set speed limits. Devices shall be tamper resistant and capable of reporting attempts to disable or circumvent functionality. Active "intelligent speed assistance device" shall not include any technology that is provided by the vehicle manufacturer as a component of a new motor vehicle and that controls or affects the speed of a motor vehicle.

(5) "Rhode Island traffic tribunal" means the court which has original jurisdiction over civil traffic offenses committed in Rhode Island. 31-27.2-3. Mandatory use of ISA devices.

(a) The Rhode Island traffic tribunal or district court shall require installation and use of an ISA device as a condition for license reinstatement for any eligible offender.

(1) If a person's license has been suspended pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the terms of restricted or revoked license reinstatement shall require the person to use a properly functioning intelligent speed assistance device while operating a motor vehicle.

(2) If a person has been convicted of multiple moving offenses and is subject to the provisions of § 31-27-34, the person shall be ordered to install an ISA device as a condition of keeping operating privileges.

(3) A person subject to the requirements in subsection (a) of this section shall not operate any motor vehicle without a properly functioning ISA device installed in the vehicle for the duration of the restricted license.

(4) A person subject to the requirements in subsection (a) of this section shall provide proof of ISA installation to the traffic tribunal through a form approved by the department from an ISA vendor.

(b) The offender shall bear the cost of leasing, installing, removing and maintaining the ISA device.

(c) The ISA device shall be operational on any vehicle the offender operates for a period of not less than twelve (12) months following reinstatement. 31-27.2-4. Certification and installation.

(a) To be eligible to install, repair, maintain, monitor, or remove an intelligent speed assistance device, an entity shall apply to the department and meet the requirements as provided in this section.

(b) An applicant seeking approval to install the device shall submit a declaration to the department that the device is an intelligent speed assistance device as defined in this chapter.

(c) To maintain eligibility under this section, a certified ISA or ignition interlock device provider or installer shall submit the results of a criminal background check to the department annually for any individual that is hired to install, repair, maintain, monitor, or remove the device.

(d) Only certified ISA devices and installers of ISA devices and ignition interlock devices shall be used to meet the requirements of this chapter.

(e) The department shall adopt regulations governing the certification of ISA device providers and installers. 31-27.2-5. Program administration. The department shall establish procedures for issuing restricted licenses:

(1) Notifying offenders of ISA requirements;

(2) Verifying installation and continued functionality of ISA devices; and

(3) Monitoring compliance and responding to violations. 31-27.2-6. Penalties for noncompliance.

(a) A person who is restricted to the use of a vehicle equipped with an intelligent speed assistance device is noncompliant if the restricted driver:

(1) Tampers with the device or any components of the device, or otherwise interferes with the proper functionality of the device, by modifying, detaching, disconnecting, or otherwise disabling it to allow the restricted driver to operate the vehicle;

(2) Has, directs, authorizes, or requests another person to tamper with the ISA device or any components of the device, or otherwise interfere with the proper functionality of the device, by modifying, detaching, disconnecting, or otherwise disabling it to allow the restricted driver to operate the vehicle;

(3) Operates a vehicle without a required ISA device; or

(4) Fails to return the device to the vendor upon program completion.

(b) Penalties for noncompliance under this chapter shall be:

(1) Immediate re-suspension or revocation of driving privileges; and

(2) Extension of the ISA requirement for an additional six (6) months;

(c) If an individual is found to be noncompliant and chooses to instead cede all driving privileges, the individual's license is suspended or revoked entirely and shall submit an affidavit of nondriving to the department.

(d) Non-restricted license reinstatement shall not occur until the user has satisfied the period of time required by the court or department to use the device without incurring additional time penalties or has completed the required time utilizing the device following additional time penalties. 31-27.2-7. Liability clarifications.

(a) A manufacturer, distributor or retailer of a motor vehicle shall not be liable for any loss, injury, or damages caused by the design, manufacture, installation, improper installation, use, or misuse of an aftermarket intelligent speed assistance device. Provided, however, liability does exist if the manufacturer, distributor or retailer of a motor vehicle knowingly engages in a repair or update to the aftermarket intelligent speed assistance device and such repair or update proximately causes loss, injury or damage.

(b) Nothing in this chapter requires a manufacturer, distributor or retailer of a motor vehicle to manufacture, distribute, or offer for sale a motor vehicle that includes or is compatible with an aftermarket intelligent speed assistance device.

(c) Nothing in this chapter prohibits a lessor or lienholder from requiring that a motor vehicle lessee or owner notify the lessor or lienholder that an aftermarket intelligent speed assistance device has been installed on a motor vehicle that is subject to a lease or finance agreement. 31-27.2-8. Data collection.

(a) All data collected pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be securely maintained by the ISA device provider. Data related to violations involving tampering with, circumventing, or removing the ISA device shall be sent by notice to the department or the judge who ordered the installation of the device.

(b) Data collected pursuant to the provisions of this chapter may only be disclosed under the following circumstances:

(1) When required by a court order;

(2) As directed by a state statute or regulation.

(3) With the department or provided to the traffic court in cases involving alleged violations for tampering with, circumventing, or removing the device; or

(4) If the data is depersonalized and aggregated for research or evaluation purposes. 31-27.2-9. Reporting and evaluation.

(a) The department shall submit an annual report to the governor, speaker of the house and the senate president summarizing program data, including recidivism rates, and user compliance.

(b) The department may adjust implementation based on findings and emerging best practices in ISA technology. 31-27.2-10. Rulemaking authority. The department is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage..