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Unfortunately for truckers, the world as they know it is about slow down significantly. A federal proposal that was set in motion nearly 10 years ago to electronically limit trucking speed has finally reached Capitol Hill. The rule, proposed by the American Trucking Association, reached the Office of Management and Budget on May 19, and will be processed through a joint effort from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration—both members of the Department of Transportation. The rule, hoping to clear the OMB by August 15 and be published 2 weeks later, will be open for public comment for 60 days following its publication. Ensuing the public comment period, the Department of Transportation will create a Final Rule which will go through another lengthy administrative process and, at last, become a law two years later.
The proposed rule has had a dramatic and complicated history. It began with the two titans of the trucking industry, the American Trucking Association and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, taking opposite sides to the speed limiters. The ATA favored the rule, which would require all trucks weighing over 27,000 pounds to adhere to a 65 MPH speed limit at all times, adducing safety as its central reason. The OOIDA, on the other hand, claims that it would actually increase the risk of highway safety as it will lead to cars and trucks traveling at different speeds, “When cars and trucks operate at different speeds on the highway, there is a significant negative impact on safety. Traffic is more dynamic and less predictable. Accidents increase.”
The debate of the precise speed limit that the law will use has recently been spurred on as several states have increased their highway speed limits, some up to 80 MPH and Texas even blazing the trail with speeds of 85 MPH. The ATA has come to terms with the imminent danger of vehicles operating at different speeds, “That’s why we back a national speed limit for all vehicles of 65 miles per hour and are disturbed by the recent trend in states raising their speed limits to 70, 75, 80 or in some areas even 85 miles per hour.” Over the past decade, many states have eliminated speed differentials between cars and trucks in order for highways to operate at a uniform speed.
Although the exact speed to which trucks will be limited it still not certain, truckers can count on a speed limiter within the next several years. Large trucks are involved in hundreds of thousands of accidents every year; a change in highway policy is certainly needed. The question remains, however, is regulating the speed of vehicles going to change that?
