Speed limiters proposal now projected for May

Although delayed again, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposal to mandate speed limiters on most commercial motor vehicles is still in the works.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new Significant Rulemaking Report, FMCSA plans to publish a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking in May. Previously, the agency projected to unveil the speed limiter proposal in June and then in December of last year.

The controversial rulemaking, which fell apart in 2016, was resurrected by FMCSA in 2022 when the agency 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.

FMCSA received more than 15,000 comments with the majority coming from truck drivers who are opposed to a mandate. The abundance of comments, which are required to be read and reviewed by the agency, played a role in the first delay.

Waiting to see

The next stage of FMCSA’s speed limiter rulemaking is of particular interest, as it is expected to be the first time the agency reveals a proposed top speed.

Top speeds that have been discussed include 60, 65, 68 and 70 mph, but nothing has been made official. Most truckers oppose a speed limiter mandate at any of those speeds – but the proposed top speed is certainly of note, as one of the arguments against the technology involves the speed differentials it would create between cars and trucks. Speed limits of 75 mph or faster are not uncommon in the United States. A speed limiter mandate for trucks set at 60 mph would create speed differentials of 20 mph or more in some areas.

FMCSA still has time to meet its May projection, but the agency needs to submit the proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review before it can be published in the Federal Register and opened for public comment. OMB reviews can take anywhere from weeks to more than a year in some instances.

Opposition

Several lawmakers spoke against a speed limiter mandate at a House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing in December.

Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said that forcing trucks and cars to drive at different speeds isn’t safer.

“There’s two problems,” Bost said. “One, when I was a state legislator in Illinois, we had one speed limit for cars and one limit for trucks. And we discovered through our research that it caused more wrecks than if everyone just went with the flow of traffic. The other problem that you have is that if you have a skilled driver, you’ve just limited his ability to use speed to react to get away and protect while driving a vehicle.”

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, opposes a speed limiter mandate and encourages support for the DRIVE Act, which would stop FMCSA from moving forward with a rulemaking on speed limiters. LL