MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — As most large for-hire trucking firms in Canada and the U.S. press toward a mandatory speed limiter rule, one carrier group north of the border still fighting to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Private Motor Truck Council of Canada President Bruce Richards met recently with Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Donna Cansfield and reinforced the association’s strong opposition to the controversial plan, which was first drawn up and proposed by the Ontario Trucking Association last year.

“Members and the industry are aware that PMTC is on record
as opposing this initiative,” Richards stated in a communiqué to members. “The Minister indicated agreement with some of the points raised in the PMTC paper that we presented, and as could be expected, disagreed with some other points.”

Richards says Cansfield made it clear that legislation requiring all trucks in the province to activate speed limiters set at 105 km/h won’t be passed until a full consultation with the industry and enforcement officials had taken place.

Private truckers say they might go for speed limiters if they
were mandated for problem speeders only

“This follows one of the PMTC recommendations to determine the impediments to enforcing speed limits, and then develop appropriate action to overcome those impediments,” says Richards.

A speed limiter rule, therefore — in Ontario at least — may not be as imminent as some would think.

In Ontario, Bill 115, a Highway Traffic Act amendment introduced by Ontario Conservative environment critic Laurie Scott, has passed second reading and awaits committee review, before perhaps moving on to third reading.

Quebec also has a speed limiter rule pending as one of 22 measures in the province’s Plan of Action on Climate Change.

In his meeting with the minister, Richards suggested that a compromise could be made where the mandating of speed limiters be restricted to chronic offenders — be they fleets or individual truckers — in a move that would be similar to the ignition interlock legislation for those convicted of DUI.

“This solution would target those fleets or drivers that cannot or will not exercise the controls already available to them.”

While the PMTC and OTA would probably mutually agree on many trucking issues, the speed limiter issue sent each group to different corners from the start.

Richards has told Today’s Trucking on many occasions that he doesn’t believe speeding trucks are enough a problem to warrant blanket speed control on trucks only. Piles of statistics instead show that trucks are continuously the slowest and safest vehicles on the road, he says.

Meanwhile in the U.S., the American Trucking Association has officially unveiled its own speed limiter lobbying campaign. The group — which last year said it would only support OEMs voluntarily activating speed limiters on engines with customers’ consent — now says it wants all truck speeds capped at 68 mph.