TORONTO, Ont. –The Teamsters Canada union, which represents thousands of Canadian truckers, says it is not a fan of Ontario’s speed limiter law. The union says Bill 41, which mechanically caps truck speeds at 105 km/h, will only burden drivers with costly adjustments to their rigs.

The Teamsters issued a release recently opposing the law, and pointing out it costs between $75 and $150 to have the speed limiter set or adjusted at a dealership or shop.

“I applaud the efforts made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Robert (Bud) McAulay, national freight and tank haul director for Teamsters Canada.

“But other considerations need to be made on environmental issues that don’t affect highway safety for motorists. How do you expect to have a safe highway when the Ministry of Transportation is allowing two different speed limits? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the result of trucks being regulated at 105 km/h and cars travelling at 120 km/h and higher will create; a lot of angry tailgating motorists waiting for their chance to pass, which will result in aggressive driving not to mention the increase in lane changes.”

The union also complained that Transport Minister Jim Bradley “chose not to hear what the truckers, represented by Teamsters Canada, had to say on this very important issue.”

(The Teamsters were not present at the public hearings on Bill 41 at Queen’s Park last June).

Meanwhile, officials in Alberta and Manitoba have recently assured the trucking industry they are in no rush to implement speed limiter requirements of their own.

“Most of the traffic already goes well above 110…to limit trucks to even less than that and to impede traffic more would probably be a safety problem,” Jerry Bellikka, spokesman for the Alberta Ministry of Transportation was recently quoted as saying by the Canadian Press. “If truckers feel that it’s going to save them gas or fuel, then by all means go ahead and put (speed limiters) in. But the government is not about to tell people or companies they have to do it.”

Manitoba was more receptive to the idea of mandating the use of speed limiters, however it said it’s unlikely to move unless all other provinces do so first.

“Most of the provinces, as a far as I know, have said ‘no,’ other than Ontario and Quebec,” John Spacek, assistant deputy minister with Manitoba’s Department of Infrastructure and Transportation told the Canadian Press. •