Speed limiter proposal eyes June 2023 unveiling

By next summer, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration expects to unveil a proposal requiring most commercial motor vehicles to use speed limiters.

In the U.S. Department of Transportation’s latest report on significant rulemakings, the agency projects that a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking will be published in the Federal Register by June 30. Once the notice is published, the public will have another opportunity to comment.

“FMCSA intends to proceed with a motor carrier-based speed limiter rulemaking,” the agency wrote in the report.

In May, FMCSA issued an advance notice supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to get feedback. Under the initial proposal, commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more and that are equipped with an electronic engine control unit capable of being governed would be subject to the mandate.

A speed had not been determined, but previous proposals floated the possibilities of 60, 65 or 68 miles per hour. The proposal released in June will likely set a top-end speed for heavy-duty trucks.

FMCSA’s 2022 notice solicited more than 15,000 comments. The majority came from truck drivers adamantly opposed to a mandate.

“If you limit all trucks to one set speed, lower than the speed of cars, you are likely to create a situation of having two trucks, side by side, traveling at their limited speed,” Michael Palmer wrote. “Neither one being able to pass the other, creating a bottleneck of traffic. This bottleneck could cause an impatient driver of a car to take the shoulder to pass the trucks, which would be very unsafe. This will cause more safety concerns than it will fix.”

OOIDA opposes mandate

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association also argues that a speed limiter mandate on heavy-duty trucks would do more harm than good.

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

Considering that the United States has highways with speed limits posted at 80 mph or more, a truck that is speed limited at 60 mph may have to travel 20-25 mph slower than the flow of traffic.

A study by University of Arkansas researchers in 2006 found that speed limit differentials compromise highway safety.

OOIDA also points out that regulating a truck’s top speed does not stop it from speeding.

Although a speed limiter mandate set at 60 mph would force trucks to drive well below the posted speed limit on most highways, it would not prevent them speeding through city traffic, construction zones or in inclement weather.

The OOIDA Foundation says research shows that forcing truckers to lose time during high-speed zones can encourage them to driver faster than they should through slower zones so that they can make their deliveries on time.

According to a Transportation Research Board’s survey of safety managers, 88% stated that their drivers travel faster than normal in lower speed zones to make up time. LL