“The first time I got behind the wheel of a loaner SUV kitted out with an aftermarket anti-speeding device this spring, I was nervous. As a safety researcher at IIHS, I’ve studied the benefits of intelligent speed assistance (ISA), which can detect the speed limit and restrict the power output of your engine to keep you from exceeding it, said I’ve more or less argued it should be required in all new vehicles to help stem a speeding epidemic that kills thousands of Americans every year. But I’d never driven with it before and secretly worried I might hate it. Was I about to put myself in an awkward position?” said Ian Reagan, a Senior Research Scientist, IIHS.

“The 35-mile commute from my home in Annapolis, Maryland, to my office in Arlington, Virginia, runs smack through Washington, D.C. If I’m lucky, it takes 45 minutes, but it can often take an hour and a half. The drive through Maryland is mostly expressway driving with a 65 mph limit and moderate traffic. It’s the part that’s inside the Capital Beltway — the 64-mile loop around the District of Columbia and its inner suburbs — where things can get hairy. Even a minor incident like a cardboard box falling off a truck can result in mile after mile of soul-sucking, stop-and-go paralysis.

“I worried the ISA device would rarely activate inside the beltway due to such congestion, robbing me of the opportunity to see how it managed the multiple speed limit zones of the District. Outside the beltway, I was afraid it would make me feel like a rolling roadblock, as faster-moving traffic jockeyed to get around me,” said Reagon.