TORONTO — The largest owner-operator group in the U.S. is still trying to put the brakes on Ontario and Quebec’s mandatory speed limiter laws.

In a Q&A with the official OOIDA publication, Landline, Government Affairs director Rod Nofziger and Government Affairs counsel Laura O’Neill of OOIDA revealed that recent face-to-face meetings with Ontario lawmakers regarding speed limiters were "very successful."

OOIDA as well as its Canadian counterpart, OBAC, have been actively opposed to rules requiring all truckers in the province to electronically cap engine speed at 105 km/h.

There has been an "educational period" since Jan. 1, 2009, with full on-road enforcement slated to kick-in July 1, 2009.

Last week’s meetings at Queen’s Park was basically OOIDA’s last-ditch effort to convince policy makers that the plan, while propped up with weak safety and environmentally-related arguments, would hurt independent operators, not just from the U.S., but those Ontario-based trucks who travel south as well.

O’Neill said opposition Conservative and NDP MPPs "understand (truckers’) point of view," while the governing Liberals "are beginning to appreciate the dialogue."

She said that she believes OODA is slowly "becoming a trusted entity among those who opposed this issue and were unfamiliar with owner-operators."

Asked if the government seems willing to compromise on speed limiters, O’Neill commented: "I think it is a wait-and-see mentality."

But with less than three months until full enforcement begins, there is little time left for waiting or seeing.