Quebec first to mandate limiters

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MONTREAL, Que. – The Quebec government has become the first jurisdiction to commit to the Ontario Trucking Association’s bid for mandatory speed limiters on trucks.

David Bradley, president of the OTA, said he is hoping that Quebec’s initiative will help motivate the Ontario government to adopt a similar measure.

“All of the provincial trucking associations have endorsed the speed limiter proposal, so hats off to the Quebec Trucking Association and the Quebec government, for being first out of the gates,” Bradley said.

“When you combine the environmental benefits with the safety benefits, not to mention the fuel cost savings, it’s hard to imagine why other governments won’t follow, especially since Highway 401 between the Quebec border and Toronto is the last great inter-provincial truck route in Canada.”

Quebec’s decision to legislate the activation of truck speed limiters – a microchip that is built-in to every electronic truck engine produced since the mid-1990’s – was contained in the province’s Plan of Action on Climate Change, released June 15.

According to the plan, the Quebec government estimates that limiting truck engine speed to no more than 105 km/h will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 330 kilotonnes.

This is more than twice the 140 kilotonnes of GHG reductions OTA forecast for Ontario if it were to adopt the proposal.

“We always said our estimates of the GHG reductions were conservative,” Bradley said.

“If… combating climate change is the great environmental challenge of our generation, then requiring the use of speed limiters is the trucking industry’s contribution to that fight. We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and we are prepared to act now.”

Earlier this month, a private member’s bill from PC environment critic Laurie Scott, MPP, which would require the mandatory activation of speed limiters, received second reading in the Ontario Legislature after it received support from members of all three parties.

The bill will be studied further by the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs this fall, before it would go to third reading.

“We hope that the Ontario government will decide soon to support the private member’s bill or introduce its own legislation in the very near future,” Bradley says.

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