Maybe the recent publicity about speed limiter rule is making the ATA think twice about it now

The American Trucking Associations Oct. 6 released a statement saying it does not support the recent speed limiter mandate proposal issued by the U.S. DOT. The trucking lobbyist’s stance comes despite its request to the DOT for such a rule, made in 2006.


ATA says it still supports a rule to require speed limiters, but not the DOT’s proposed rule as published, the group says. Last month, ATA called the DOT’s proposal a “dramatic departure” from its initial request.

“Despite ATA’s decade-old, pro-safety policy on speed, the new joint rulemaking from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposes a menu of three speed options for commercial trucks, not one. It provides insufficient data and fails to make a recommendation regarding which of the three proposed speeds it believes is best and why.

ATA also chided the DOT agencies for not addressing the speed differential between cars and trucks the rule would create. “This lack of data and direction only elevates the safety risks to the motoring public,” ATA says in its statement. “ATA will…prepare its formal comments, fully illustrating the flaws of this proposed rulemaking, which we will not support as currently drafted.”

NHTSA and FMCSA jointly published the rule Sept. 7. As ATA notes, the rule does not specify a specific speed, but rather proposed three options — 60, 65 and 68 mph. The agencies ask for feedback from trucking stakeholders and the public on the rule. The agencies also weren’t decisive on whether the rule would be applied retroactively to trucks already in use, and to what extent the rule would be retroactive, if it were.See Overdrive’s in-depth coverage of the rule here.

DOT touts limiters’ emissions savings benefits

In a newly released report, the U.S. DOT says implementing an industry-wide speed limiter mandate would lower the U.S. truck fleet’s emissions of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide but raise levels of carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Researchers conclude, however, the increase in fuel economy — and subsequent drop in GHG emissions — associated with a limiter mandate would outweigh the increase in emissions of carbon monoxide and particulates.


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