Limit all vehicle speeds, not just trucks

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Dear Editor:

As a professional driver, I take issue with the new proposal for speed limiters on trucks.

Highway coaches are immune to the speed limiter proposals, as is the average motorist.

The company I work for governs its coaches voluntarily at 113 km/h not only for safety, but for fuel savings.

In certain US states trucks are limited to 55 mph, while everyone else is allowed to do 70 mph.

I know first-hand the problems this creates when a group of 70-plus vehicles catches up to a truck lumbering along at 55 mph.

The problem continues exponentially as several rigs get jammed up together, and one rig tries to pass another. This scenario will play out no different in Ontario, should the law pass.

On the other hand, limiting speed reduces fuel consumption considerably and promotes a constant, safer and more manageable flow of heavy vehicles.

My issue is directed not only at the proposed speed of 105 km/h, but at the limited amount of vehicles encompassed in the rules.

I feel, after driving tractor-trailers, highway coaches, dump trucks, and my own personal vehicle that 105 is unreasonable and should be bumped up to 110 km/h.

This would allow truckers to still have enough passing momentum to pass another vehicle within a reasonable amount of time and not cause a backup of traffic during the process.

Watch the average motorist stuck behind a rig slowly passing another rig, and when the lane clears they take off like a bullet in frustration, in a long line of angry adrenaline-pumped fury.

And if the proposal is to limit trucks, why not cars?

If the speed limit in Ontario is 100 km/h, why should any vehicle need to exceed 115 km/h?

Why does any average motorist need to drive faster than 115? One hundred and fifteen kilometres per hour gives them ample passing ability, and complies with the speed limits in almost every province and state in North America.

Now think of the fuel savings and safety factor if everyone was limited to a set speed!

If the average motorist was also limited, it would make truckers swallow the “limiting pill” a lot easier.

Dave Shepherd

Via e-mail

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Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


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