Transportation

CalSTA announces pilot program cracking down on extreme speeding on highways

Speeding
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The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) announced a new joint effort by two of its departments, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and California Highway Patrol (CHP), to curb excessive speeding and prevent deadly crashes.

The pilot announced last month, Forwarded Actions for Speeding Tickets (FAST), is part of a statewide push to reverse the alarming rise in traffic fatalities and supports California’s recent Policy on Road Safety — a coordinated strategy to save lives and make the state’s roads safer for everyone. 

Each month, CHP officers issue about 1,600 citations to drivers caught traveling more than 100 mph. The CHP recently deployed a new fleet of low-profile specially marked patrol cars on the state’s busiest and high-risk roads.

“Driving over 100 miles per hour is a reckless choice that endangers everyone on the road,” added CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “This new program delivers swift consequences to keep dangerous drivers off California’s roadways before their actions cause irreversible harm.”

Under the new pilot, every driver cited by CHP for exceeding 100 mph will have their citation automatically forwarded to the DMV’s Driver Safety Branch — no matter their prior record. The DMV will then review the case and the driver’s history to determine next steps, which could include suspension or revocation of driving privileges. 

This administrative process can proceed independently of any court conviction. The pilot program builds on the DMV’s existing Driver Safety Branch enforcement and Negligent Operator Treatment System (NOTS) partnership with CHP.

 Speeding remains a major factor in traffic deaths statewide, contributing to 32% of all fatalities. The DMV-CHP pilot takes a data-driven approach rooted in research showing that swift and certain penalties are the most effective deterrents to high-risk driving. The DMV will evaluate the program’s impact by comparing citation and outcome data to the same period in the previous year.

 

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