The federal government appears to be circling back in an effort to mandate speed limiters after failing to implement a policy in 2016.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pushed previous proposals but were unable to arrive at an mph consensus. Options were discussed to set truck rates of speeds at 60, 65, and 68 mph. None of these options garnered enough support to finalize a speed limiter regulation.
Under Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, the DOT plans to act on recommendations from the National Roadway Safety Strategy, which advocates for a goal of zero fatal crashes. The Safety group and DOT administrators view rates of speed as a leading cause of fatal highway accidents. That’s largely why the FMCSA issued a speed-limiter notice of intent on April 27.
Should the rulemaking process succeed this time, the maximum speed for commercial vehicles engaged in interstate commerce — above a 26,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight, whichever is higher — would require electronic engine control units (ECU). Proposals cover both Class 8 and 7 commercial motor vehicles and owners would be required “to maintain that ECU setting for the service life of the vehicle.”
Advocates at the American Trucking Associations (ATA) have gone on the record supporting speed limiters under specific guidelines.
“We have consistently opposed efforts by anti-truck groups to pursue a speed-limiter rule, setting speeds in the low 60s. Anti-truck advocates pushed to include that in the recently enacted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but ATA successfully fought to keep those provisions out of the final bill,” the ATA stated in response to the FMCSA notice of intent. “Official ATA policy supports a maximum set speed of 70 MPH in trucks equipped with Automatic Emergency Braking and Adaptive Cruise Control. In trucks without those safety features, our policy supports a maximum set speed of 65 MPH.”
Federal rulemaking procedures call for a 30-day public comment period that allows truckers, safety organizations, and other stakeholders to have their perspectives included in the record. The federal agency then reviews the input and considers it while formulating a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. This detailed plan of action would involve a speed limiter setting, provide an implementation timeline, and address other pertinent issues.
“We intend to thoroughly review FMCSA’s proposal, and we look forward to working with the agency to shape a final rule that is consistent with our policy supporting the use of speed limiters in conjunction with numerous other safety technologies,” ATA President Chris Spear reportedly said.
Truckers have an opportunity to voice their opinion as the FMCSA decides on an MPH standard. To date, the federal agency has not put forward a desired top speed or timeline.
Sources: fleetowner.com, trucking.org
What a joke. A faggot deciding we need a max speed limit. We have a queer in the DOT and a couple of idiots running the country. It’s time to exterminate the trash in DC.
As much as I disapprove of this motion to regulate our speed, your hatred-spewing mouth does not help our argument whatsoever. Take it elsewhere.
Yes!! more controls on trucker. Let us increase congestion, accidents, supply chain slowdowns,…Then more controls to combat increased congestion, accidents, supply chain slowdowns…. Then…..and on and on and…
Apparently they haven’t looked at the stats of fatalities during the scamdemic lockdown. You take the 4 wheeler out of the equation and the accident numbers drop dramatically.
Put them on a speed limiter as well. How many of those accidents are caused by one of us getting rear-ended? I’m hearing about side impact and rear bumper protection but nothing about front bumpers.
Scamdemic my ass. Covid was as real as it gets.. I had it, and because of continuing symptoms was forced into early retirement. So take your Trumpish bs somewhere else you clown.
Fatalities won’t change,they most likely to rise if they go with this nonsense.
If u look at who is investing in items like speed limiters, then u know why it is needed. Many laws are said to b about safety, but it all comes down to money.
I will no longer drive a truck. After 40 years I will retire. There are to many idiots on the road and all you will have is a trim of truck going down the highway. It was proven years ago that split speed limits cause more accidents due to 4 wheelers approaching trucks at high speed not paying attention and either changing lanes at rapid speeds causing accidents or rear ending trucks.
Why not address the actual problem. Too many drivers that can’t speak English let alone read it is a majority of the accident issue. The foreign Drivers from Canada and Mexico are not required to speak English to travel through America. If they become a US citizen and want to drive Is only time they need to learn English. They have no clue what our signs say. They are speeding through construction zones. Running up on slowed traffic causing accidents, I see it weekly running to Laredo back to Indiana.
Careless driving on the passenger cars with texting and high speed is a second contributor to the high fatal accidents.
Third is inexperienced drivers, the amount of young drivers with no experience is astonishing to me. You teach them how to pass a test and turn them lose. Why Isn’t there a drivers Ed course for truck drivers?
Speed limiters ain’t going to solve any thing. But it’s the easiest way to pad your pockets.
In 20+ years of driving I have no accidents and over 16 years with out a ticket. My truck is set at factory spec max speed is 127 mph. I have never drove triple digits just cause I have it doesn’t mean I do it.
The Federal goverment needs to stay the hell out of the trucking industry , they can’t even take care of this country!!
All you big talkers out there, are you ready to park em now?? For the past 20 years all I hear every April ish is how were gonna shut em down, bring em to their knees, well it would be pretty damn unconstitutional to say what speed you have to operate your truck at!!! Never been a better time to Strike, this administration is a bunch of idiots and if your not careful their going to be telling you how far you can drive in a day, oh wait ….. What do you think it is???
Only our idiot govt would figure out a way to cause more accidents. Slowing us down is not the problem.
Those faggots in government don’t care about safety ( government wants only revenue and control). The speed rules are, as usual, driven by insurance companies (as any company) looking to reduce their liabilities.
“Faggots”? Bet you are a closet queen yourself
“faggot” has a number of meanings. I think he would have been more accurate with the slang term faggit, which pertains to “butgig” referencing the queer at the top of the trans department. (buttigieg). Your post is interesting because you seem to be offended by his post. Perhaps you are the one who is hiding behind the closet door?
Insurance companies looking to reduce their liabilities. You are 100% correct; for an insurance company to reduce their liability that means fewer accidents OR less severe accidents.
Therefore, the speed limiters will indeed reduce accidents and the severity of accidents and thereby limit insurance liability. Good point!
Wrong it will cause more accidents. You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.
Every see a convoy of army vehicles on the highway? What does that do to safety and traffic?? Imagine that on every highway in the USA
@Ted, no one is investing in items that limit speed. The ECU has been capable of that since at least 2000.
Limits on speed will benefit the majors due to the amount of trucks they offer. Another way of getting rid of independent owner operators. I am all for safety, but with a lower limit on cmv’s only will most likely cause more 4 wheelers to act crazy because they already think big rigs move to slow.
If they change to speed limiters they will have to change the way we log also
I am sorry, this one you will have to explain. What does the speed of thebtruck have to do with the ELD or HOS?
Slower the speed the less miles you can cover which will cost you money over the year. The Elds and HOS control your ability to make money plain and simple.
This is a standard US Government trip over ourself ! They are going create a new problem in search of a solution and than some how claim they fix it , yet creating a hole bunch of new problems in search of solutions! Without ever solving the problem. It’s a new view of some Idiot patrol officer claiming speed caused the incident. When speed doesn’t cause accident the highest percent of them are caused extremely poor driving habits and a inability to share the roads ( look out for each other) if they really want to solve some of this have better training programs and turn cruise control off . They won’t ! Like the other smart people I’m out. Can’t pay me enough to be a part of this
I started back driving this year. Mostly running a hotshot truck.
I am amazed how fast 4 wheelers are driving these days while weaving around traffic and often texting on their phones at the same time.
I think that is a bigger problem than truckers cause.
With that said, I can see where truckers cause frustration and recklessness among 4 wheelers and truckers as well by pulling out into the fast lane to pass other trucks knowing full well that they would need miles to get around.
It would be more effective to enforce causing traffic to backup due to this behavior than dropping speeds.
Note that some 4 wheelers are notorious for jumping in the fast lane and driving slow causing back up as well. They should also be ticketed.
ELD’s already have that capability; nonetheless I’m all for it.
The eld doesn’t have any capability to control your speed.
Maybe now all you will understand the only way to change the idiots in government is to take control of the government stop the truck and get the attention of those idiots when the economy tanks , we did it in the 70’s it won’t take very long. Stop stem each other in the back and unite!!! You the driver move America
There’s already a supply line crisis in this country. Companies have a hard enough time finding drivers to move things, and they’re working on ways to regulate us more and make our jobs even harder? Leave us the hell alone. W
These government officials are dumbest or the smartest I wonder who is benefiting from these laws.We all know trucks aren’t the problem. Its 4 wheelers driving 20-30 mph faster than the legal limit causes causes for others to merge exit and pass! Cutting trucks off every chance they get. Not letting us merge and exit safely. Now having all trucks at the same speed ? Imagine grid lock that’s gonna cause. Fuk that I’m driving on the fast lane not any 4 wheeler pass. Why do we have to stop and let every car exit merge safely making us later and later everyone we do this? Clog up the 2 lane highways is all that’s gonna do.
They did the same thing with ELDs, and forced us to buy private manufactured spyware to put in our personal property. If you’re wondering why the price of goods is getting so high and the supply chain in this country is a joke, this is why. We don’t have a “driver shortage”. We’re just not putting up with this crap anymore. I suggest Mr. Buttigieg unscrew his head from his a** and start paying attention to the facts. I voted democrat this last election, but I can promise you, I won’t make that mistake again if they keep this up.
If they tried this on any other vehicle on the highway, he’d be out of a job by dawn tomorrow. That’s how you know this has jack to do with “safety”. The motoring public already hates us, and that’s about to get even worse. You wanna “fix” the trucking industry, then go after crooked brokers and greedy companies who have made it to where a driver has to clear 4,000 miles per week to avoid going bankrupt. THAT is why the trucking industry is unsafe. The drivers are constantly fatigued and afraid to say anything. Oh…I’m sorry, I forgot – nobody actually gives a d*** about “safety”. It’s all about billionaires making more money. Fine, starve.
It’s time for O/Os to park their trucks anyone that has loans should file bankruptcy and watch the banks go under watch this country starve and watch how fast all the regulations change.
I will drive in the left lane as long as I have to have a speed limiter
If they require speed limiters my suggestion is….
1) refuse to work more than 10 hrs a day
2) refuse regional and over the road…home every night no exception
3) refuse nights and weekends. Monday to Friday only maximum 50 hrs a week
If they want so badly to control how we work then stop being flexible and work only standard business hours. 7 to 5 Monday to Friday.
It’s the driver’s choice. Are you going to let the government control you and your habits or do you want freedom???
Go ahead, mandate ALL trucks have a 65mph governor, see how fast drivers shut down.
ill drive 38 miles per hoyr never deliver anything and hang out at all the truckstops ,cause im a true professional
Speed is not the problem this days for trucks, cars are speeding way faster than trucks, 2 days ago in las Vegas NV, I was going 59 in a 65 zone, a HELLCAT passed me like 120 to 130 mph if I’m right, yesterday in el Cajon Pass CA, a car rear ended a big rig in such speed that the car was totaled, and the big rig sustained a damage to the point that wasn’t drivable anymore, another car rear ended a tow truck pulling a disabled big rig, killing 3 people, the car I was told was going 90 to 100 mph. WHEN ELD’S came to be installed in trucks it was supposed to minimize fatalities according to government officials, it was the opposite, but for some reason the makers of those devices became reach companies, everything is only politics and money for someone, government should stop using the word SAFETY, when safety doesn’t have anything to do with it, is only money involved in those new laws.
The split speed limit does not work! How many times does it have to be proven to the government idiots..
All drivers, it’s time to take back our industry.. stop letting the over educated, untrained, tell us how to do what we the trained professionals gave been doing all our long years and safe miles..
STRIKE TIME.
Been driving over 40 years. Seen it when it was 55 then up to 75. Then split speeds in different states. We can only blame ourselves for a majority of it. Let’s not forget bad drivers and ruthless lawyers. In the end we’ll take it and keep driving. Then they’ll complain about high prices and slow delivery. It’s never ending.
Can’t wait!
Yippee!!!
The BIG problem is NOT the speed, but the lack of a better infrastructure. Better roads lower incidents. Major highways that connect two major cites need at least 6 lanes. Example I-70 in Missouri from St Louis to KC is a wreck waiting to happen. Improve the roads, will improve the stats.
One of the worst interstates I have ever driven on!!!
One of the worst interstates I have ever driven!
90% of accident involved with a truck are caused by a car. The speed limiter on trucks only increases the availability of a car truck accident as the cars drive like idiots on the highway! If anyone needs to be limited, it’s the cars that need the speed limit on the vehicle! If you think the roads are dangerous now, just wait and see how accident increase by 10-15 fold as cars will be running over trucks as the cars don’t pay enough attention as it is ! This could be the 2nd biggest mistake to happen to the trucking industry behind the ELD!
Hey mark. Truth hurt?
You think it’s unsafe now between Nashville and Little Rock, wait until you have all trucks regulated at same identical speed! Let the carnage begin and talk about pissed off four wheelers hemmed into literally bumper to bumper 65 mph traffic for hours… can’t wait.
And you think our industry has a driver shortage now ATA…what till this goes live and see how many drivers quit this career including yours truly! Been doing this since 1990 and I have no problem finding a new career…. ATA you guys are a bunch of pencil pushing idiots and don’t know a dam thing about the reality other than filling your coffer’s with special interest money….No different than our politicians..
Also what’s interesting is how ATA and others who support this give a pass to passenger vehicles who actually operate on highways an average of 10mph above speed limit. ATA, go Drive the stretch between KC & STL on i70 where the speed limit is 70 and they do 75 to 80.
Now put 1000’s of truck in the middle of them doing 65 on flat ground and 50 to 55 up a bump in the road!!
Guess the goal is to keep the meat wagons in business & fill ATA pockets with kick backs!