Speed limiter proposal misses target date

Another target date has passed without the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issuing its proposal to require speed limiters on most commercial motor vehicles.

In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation listed Friday, Dec. 29 as the date for unveiling FMCSA’s supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on speed limiters.

Not only has that deadline not been met, but it is unclear how long it will take before the agency can publish the proposal. Significant rulemakings must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget before they can be published and sent out for public comment.

As of Friday, Dec. 29, the notice still had not been submitted to OMB. The review process often can take months.

In fact, a previous speed limiter proposal was under review for 15 months before hitting the Federal Register.

Considering those factors, it could be a month or two into 2024 before a formal proposal on speed limiters is published.

The agency previously targeted June 2023 for the release of its speed limiter proposal. FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson told Land Line Now earlier this year that the time spent reviewing about 15,000 comments from its 2022 advance notice led the agency to miss the first target date.

Background

The effort to require speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles is not a new one, and many large fleets already have the devices installed on their trucks as a way to improve fuel efficiency.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a report on the topic all the way back in 1991, and the American Trucking Associations petitioned NHTSA to limit trucks to 68 mph in 2006.

The effort resurfaced in 2016, when FMCSA and NHTSA issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking. But the proposal was shelved after a new administration took office in 2017.

Then in 2022, FMCSA revived the effort again when it issued an advance notice of supplemental proposed rulemaking. The notice suggested that commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more and that are equipped with an electric engine control unit capable of being governed would be subject to the mandate. The advance notice did not include a top speed, but FMCSA officials have indicated that it will be included in the forthcoming proposal. Safety groups have asked for the top speed to be 60 mph, while ATA supports a maximum speed of 70 mph for trucks equipped with additional technology and 65 mph for everyone else.

Opposition

Truck drivers voiced their opposition to the 2022 advance notice in the approximately 15,000 comments provided to FMCSA. The majority of those comments came from truckers who expressed concerns about speed differentials, increased stress and an inability to accelerate to avoid dangerous situations.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, opposes mandating speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles at any speed, citing the dangers of large speed differentials as well as the need for states to set their own speed limits.

In addition, lawmakers introduced the DRIVE Act in the House and Senate. The bill would prevent FMCSA from mandating speed limiters.

What’s next?

Despite the opposition, FMCSA appears determined to move forward with the next step toward a speed limiter rule.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s September 2023 Significant Rulemaking Report that targeted Friday, Dec. 29 as the date for the release of the proposal also originally indicated that the top speed would be 68 mph.

However, FMCSA quickly reversed course, saying that a top speed had not been determined.

“A top speed has not been determined … The limit of 68 mph is one of the options being considered as it was included in the petitions for rulemaking and discussed in the 2016 notice of proposed rulemaking,” an FMCSA spokesperson said. “It should be noted, however, that no final decision has been made on the maximum speed limit that would be proposed in the forthcoming supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking.”

The agency also indicated that OMB would have to review the proposal before it could be published in the Federal Register.

Once a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking is published, the public again will have an opportunity to comment. The agency then will have to review what will likely be thousands of comments before it can determine whether or not to issue a final rule.

If the agency decides to move forward, it would most likely be well into 2025 before any rule could take effect. LL