QUEEN’S PARK, Ont. — Arguably one of the more contentious issues in trucking over the last 10 years, the debate over mandatory speed limiters may have ended with a whimper.

Expecting nearly 200 protesters at Queen’s Park yesterday, organizers of the anti-speed limiter demonstration in Toronto were joined by only a dozen truckers, according to media reports. And less than half of those participated in the planned truck ‘convoy’ from Bowmanville, Ont.

Const. Dave Woodford told The Toronto Star that the rolling convoy wasn’t large enough to affect traffic.

Legislation requiring all trucks operating in Ontario and Quebec to set engine governors at a maximum of 105 km/h took effect on Jan. 1. Police and MTO inspectors will educate truckers on the rule until July 1. At that point hard enforcement kicks-in and truckers will be fined for not having limiters activated ($250 in Ontario, $350 in Quebec).

Ardent speed limiter critics — the American owner-op group OOIDA and the Owner-operator Business Association of Canada (OBAC) — had been promoting the protest since last December.

OOIDA member and Cambridge, Ont. trucker Scott Mooney organized the event, mainly through his anti-speed limiter Facebook page, which reportedly has about 700 members.

Joining the truckers were Gilles Bisson of the NDP and John O’Toole of the Conservative Party, who were both among a small group of dissenting MPPs when the legislature voted for the bill last summer. 

Politicians at the time complained that MPPs were "fed" pre-selected background information on speed limiters and the Liberal government purposefully kept other data to itself before the vote, including a preliminary copy of a Transport Canada study, which highlighted some potential pitfalls with speed limiter legislation. 

The speed limiter issue has triggered more responses to this magazine and website (mostly negative) from owner-oops, drivers, and small fleets than any other trucking topic in recent memory. However, only a small handful of drivers braved the sub-zero temperatures to tell Ontario Transport Minsiter Jim Bradley what they think of his rule.

Despite the poor turnout, organizers succeeded in luring mainstream media to the event. The Toronto Star, CBC, CTV News, among other media, were all present.