Mandatory Speed Limiters Fail to Gain Traction in the House

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) teamed up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to submit a proposal back in 2016 that would require fleets to equip all class 7 and 8 commercial vehicles with speed limitation devices. The proposal met immediate backlash from the trucking community and languished in Congress for the past seven years. Now, the House is pushing back with a new act that would curtail FMCSA’s ability to declare and enforce the rule.

Why the Resistance?

Equipping commercial vehicles with speed limiters seems like a no-brainer to many trucking associations, including the American Trucking Associations, Truckload Carriers Association, and The Trucking Alliance. These organizations staunchly believe implementing tamper-proof speed limiters is essential for larger commercial vehicles. Speeding is among the riskiest driver behaviors and claims thousands of lives annually. The destruction and lethality increase dramatically when factoring in a 30,000-pound commercial truck.

However, the proposed ruling has equally fervent detractors, such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, and the Western States Trucking Association. The concern these groups cite most often relates to the speed differential such a ruling would create between commercial and passenger vehicles.

Passenger vehicles already engage in unsafe driving practices around commercial vehicles. Their tolerance for the larger, slower vehicles is usually low. Detractors fear that speed limiters will exacerbate these frustrations, resulting in reckless driver behavior to get around the much slower trucks. Additionally, speed limiters would impinge on a truck driver’s ability to move with the natural flow of traffic.

What Comes Next?

FMCSA announced last September plans to release a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) by June 30, 2023. The new notice aims to discuss the benefits of requiring speed limiters for fleet vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. FMCSA has floated potential limits at 60, 65, and 68 mph but is open to other recommendations.

Speed limiter supporters raise two critical points. First, many who oppose limiting truck speeds were also against other safety regulations. Examples include electronic logging devices, automatic emergency braking, and the drug and alcohol clearing house. Second, excessive speeding creates excessive risk and does nothing to improve driver safety. Contact Interstate Motor Carriers to learn more about safety regulation compliance.