Truck Safety Coalition calls out DOT for delaying speed limiters, AEBs

According to the latest regulatory agenda, the U.S. Department of Transportation isn’t expected to take the next steps in the rulemaking process to mandate speed limiters and automatic emergency braking systems on commercial motor vehicles until 2025.

In a letter sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on July 15, the Truck Safety Coalition was critical of the delays.

“Truck crash victims and survivors of the Truck Safety Coalition are dismayed, disappointed, and deeply disturbed by USDOT’s inability to complete the priority truck safety rulemakings the department committed to at the beginning of the Biden Administration,” the coalition wrote.

Speed limiters

DOT’s Spring 2024 Unified Regulatory Agenda revealed that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration doesn’t plan to issue a proposal to require speed-limiting devices on commercial motor vehicles until May 2025.

The announcement is the latest delay in the agency’s efforts to mandate speed limiters. FMCSA previously projected the proposal to be released in June 2023, December 2023 and May 2024.

FMCSA restarted the rulemaking process for speed limiters in 2022. The effort was met with heavy opposition from truck drivers, who were responsible for a majority of the more than 15,000 comments.

The opposition, as well as the sheer number of comments, have played a role in the rulemaking’s delay.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, argues that forcing trucks to drive well below the posted speed limit is not the best way to improve safety. Actually, OOIDA contends that the speed differentials between cars and trucks would cause more harm than good. Although FMCSA hasn’t revealed its proposed top speed, the Truck Safety Coalition has advocated for 60 mph, which would create dramatic differentials on the nation’s interstates. Speed limits are as fast as 80 and 85 mph in several states.

“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.”

In addition to opposition from truck drivers, regulators face potential hurdles to a speed limiter mandate from lawmakers, in the courtroom and from the forthcoming election.

The DRIVE Act, which would prevent FMCSA from continuing the rulemaking, was introduced in the House and Senate. Additionally, an appropriations bill includes a provision to do the same.

Another potential issue is that Congress never directed FMCSA to issue a speed limiter rulemaking. That information, combined with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to reverse the Chevron doctrine, means that the agency would likely open itself to additional legal scrutiny.

It also is unclear if the rulemaking would survive if there’s a change in the administration. Before the election in 2016, FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had started the rulemaking process for speed limiters. Following the election of President Trump in November 2016, the rulemaking stalled.

Automatic emergency braking systems

The DOT’s regulatory agenda also revealed that it was behind schedule in its efforts to issue a final rule to mandate automatic emergency brakes for new heavy-duty trucks.

The final rule is now projected for January after previously being slated for this past April.

Last year, FMCSA and NHTSA issued a joint proposal that would require AEB systems and electronic stability control systems on new vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds.

The heavy vehicle proposal calls for all Class 7 and 8 vehicles – those weighing more than 26,000 pounds – to be required to meet the AEB standards three years after the rule takes effect. All Class 3 to 6 vehicles – those weighing 10,001 to 26,000 pounds – would be required to meet the AEB and electronic stability control requirements in four years. Small-volume manufacturers would have until five years after the final rule took effect. There would not be any retrofit requirements on existing heavy vehicles.

During the formal comment period, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and individual truckers told the agencies that current AEB technologies are deficient and cited instances of false activations. Examples included false activations being triggered by shadows from an overpass or guardrails while traveling on a curve. LL