Safety groups call for 60 mph speed limiters on trucks

The prospect of a speed limiter mandate on heavy-duty trucks ignited opposition from thousands of truck drivers.

As of Friday, July 15, more than 15,000 comments had been submitted to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A significant majority of the comments come from truckers who call it an example of overregulation and point to the potential dangers resulting from large speed differentials.

However, it also is important to note that there are organizations and individuals who want to make a speed limiter mandate a reality.

A coalition of safety groups are among those who want to slow trucks down on the highways.

In May, FMCSA issued an advance notice of supplemental rulemaking that requested feedback on a potential speed limiter mandate on heavy-duty trucks.

FMCSA will continue to accept comments on the notice through Monday, July 18.

The current proposal would be limited to trucks with a gross vehicle weight of at least 26,001 pounds. Safety groups want the mandate to speed limit Class 3-6 trucks as well. The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Truck Safety Coalition, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers filed joint comments to FMCSA.

“Crashes involving CMVs remain far too high and are a significant threat to public safety,” the safety groups wrote. “Including Class 3-6 trucks in the (rulemaking) would help to reduce the injury and death toll inflicted on the public from these tragedies.”

FMCSA’s current notice does not determine a top speed for trucks. But the safety groups are pushing for trucks to be limited to 60 mph.

“In order to fulfill its mission to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses, FMCSA must promptly complete this rulemaking to require the use of speed limiting technology on CMVs set at a maximum speed of 60 mph,” the safety groups wrote.

The United States has posted speed limits as high as 85 mph. Considering that cars often exceed the speed limit by 5 mph or more, the safety groups’ recommendation could cause trucks to travel 30 mph slower than cars on the same road.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and thousands of truck drivers contend that such drastic speed differentials will lead to increased interactions and more crashes.

“Studies and research have already proven what we were all taught long ago in driver’s ed classes – that traffic is safest when vehicles all travel at the same relative speed,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Limiting trucks to speeds below the flow of traffic increases interactions between vehicles, which can lead to more crashes.”

The OOIDA Foundation points to research from Steven Johnson and the University of Arkansas that says the frequency of interactions with other vehicles increases 227% when traveling 10 mph below the speed of traffic.

Many truck drivers have cited speed differentials as well as increased road rage and the need to accelerate to avoid crashes as reasons why they are opposed to a mandate.

Truckers who would still like to comment have through Monday, July 18, to do so. The Association has made the process easy through its Fighting for Truckers website. The public also can comment here or by going to the Regulations.gov website and entering Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0004. LL