OTTAWA — The director of Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada says she isn’t worried that a private member’s bill mandating a speed limit on all trucks has been quietly moving up the legislative ladder at Queen’s Park. In fact, Joanne Ritchie says, she’s looking forward to an open, public debate on the issue.

“It’s clear that politicians don’t have the entire story. All they have in front of them so far is what’s been spoon-fed to them,” Ritchie told TodaysTrucking.com upon reviewing Bill 115, a Highway Traffic Act amendment introduced by Ontario Conservative environment critic Laurie Scott. The Bill, if passed, would require all heavy truck engines in Ontario to be capped through electronic controls at 105 km/h.

The Bill essentially mirrors a proposal drafted by the Ontario Trucking Association, which submitted its proposal to the Ontario Transportation Ministry last year. The MTO said at the time it would weigh comments from OTA, its supporters, and well as critics, and make a decision by late January 2006.

Rather than fear Queen’s Park’s take on speed limiters, Canada’s
owner-op group welcomes the issue into the public forum

Although a decision from the department has not been made to date, Scott’s bill passed second reading in the Ontario legislature last week by a margin of 27-6. MPPs from all three parties voted for the Bill.

It will now be referred to the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs for further analysis before perhaps advancing to third reading, where if it passes, it would become law.

“Saying that the plan is approaching third reading is overstating the significance of what has happened so far,” says Ritchie. “Passing second reading is a process-related move that sends the bill to committee for discussion. There’s a lot of ground to cover before a decision is made and whether or not to take it any further.

“Getting it to the committee stage is not bad thing, really,” she continues. “It’s high time there was some legitimate debate on the issue.”

The OTA, which argues that speed limiters would reduce fatal collisions on highways and conserve valuable fuel for Ontario, has been lobbying since last summer. It has attracted the support of several safety, environmental, and truck equipment groups along the way.

Each provincial trucking association has also agreed to help carry the lobbying effort nation-wide.

But rather than believe Bill 155 is a big victory for the carrier group, Ritchie wonders if the campaign is perhaps losing some momentum. She notes that the amendment to ” improve air quality” was tabled by an opposition environment critic — when the OTA’s central argument for limiters is based on safety — and not publicly welcomed by top decision makers and bureaucrats.

In fact, the Council of Deputy Ministers has reportedly asked that a discussion paper reviewing the policy implications of government intervention be prepared for follow up at their Fall meeting.

Ritchie, who is joined in opposition to speed limiters by the U.S.-based Owner-Operator and Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) as well as the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, has argued that if reducing the speed of trucks — which statistically are the slowest-moving and safest vehicles on the roads — was the “real issue,” then police should step up enforcement of laws already on the books.

“The question legislators have to consider is not whether speed-limiters are a ‘good idea,'” she says, “but rather the appropriateness of government legislating what industry should be doing on its own — by laws already in place when it comes to speeding — and by sound business practices when it comes to managing costs.”