Dear Editor,

I totally disagree with limiting truck speeds. I’ve been driving a truck for over 30 years with well over two million accident-free miles. We must not permit this ridiculous idea to take place.

It will create some dandy lawsuits if we do. We have already seen this in California and Michigan which have mandatory truck speed limits. When you create a large discrepancy in speed between vehicles, you create situations where the flow of normal moving traffic becomes impaired. I have driven from Toronto to Los Angeles twice a month for 10 years now on a regular run, so I know what I’m talking about. It is absolutely essential that the flow of traffic remains constant.

When you create a field of traffic that has a large variance in speed (cars going 120+ km/h and you have this large truck going no more than 105 km/h you cause a disturbance in the traffic flow! You now have various situations where cars are having to change lanes constantly to go around slow, large vehicles creating opportunities where misjudgements can happen.Bad weather can enhance this problem as well. In a nutshell, keep the flow of traffic constant! This works! Increasing speed differences between large vehicles and cars is an accident waiting to happen.This plan is not about safety, it’s about money!

Mr. Lanthier

Via e-mail