WASHINGTON — Proposed by America’s leading carriers, a national speed limiter mandate is now officially on U.S. regulators’ docket.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday it is taking comments on a proposal that would put tamper-proof speed limiters in trucks, which cap vehicle speeds to 68 mph.??FMCSA stated in a Federal Register notice, it will review the request by the American Trucking Associations and nine member trucking companies that back putting speed governors in new trucks.

Truckers opposed to speed limiters say research shows
that uniform truck speed would not make roads safer.

Following in the footsteps of the Ontario Trucking Association — which is trying to get a rule in Canada requiring speeds on all trucks limited to 100 km/h — the ATA began petitioning for the proposal last fall.

Earlier in the year, however, when OTA was pushing its speed limiter idea at Queen’s Park and Ottawa, the ATA said it would not pursue a legislative mandate, but would instead encourage OEMs to voluntarily limit the maximum speed of large trucks, at the time of manufacture.

Meanwhile, the U.S.’s largest group of owner-ops say the fact that both FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are considering the rule shows that federal agencies “are all-too willing to appease big business.”

“Since very few highway accidents involving trucks take place at speeds greater than 68 mph, you don’t have to be a highway safety expert to conclude a singular focus on truck speed could hardly produce a safety breakthrough,” said Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Executive Vice President Todd Spencer in a press release. “But, that’s not how it works in Washington, DC, where perception is spun to be reality.”

Like its counterpart, the Owner-Operators Business Association of Canada (OBAC), OOIDA points out that nothing stops any of the proponent carriers from setting speed limiters on their trucks at any speed they choose.
“In fact,” Spencer states, “many large companies already speed limit their trucks but they don’t crow about their safety records because they’re nothing to brag about.”

“They want a government mandate to do it, however, because they know their drivers, whom they pay only for miles driven, would move to another company with a less restrictive speed policy.”