Dear NMA Supporters,
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCVSA) has revived an abandoned effort to mechanically limit the maximum speed of trucks. A federal notice asks for comment on Docket ID No. FMCSA-2022-0004-0001, which proposes to apply speed limiters to all new trucks over 26,000 lbs. with electronic engine-management systems. FMCSA is considering extending the rule to retrofitting of existing trucks, and to trucks as light as 10,001 lbs. GVW, which would include many pickup-and-trailer combinations.
Any road user may comment on the proposed rule. As this is written, the total of comments received is over 14,500, and the comment period has been extended until July 17.
Federal regulators are most interested in first-hand information about the effect of rules in the real world. In your comment, let FMCSA know that you’re one of the country’s 230 million auto drivers. Draw on your experience in mixing with slow-moving truck traffic on freeways in your part of the country.
Some of the issues that you might raise:
- Speed-limited trucks will affect all highway traffic, not just truck operators.
- Highways are safest where speed variance is smallest, and interactions between vehicles are minimized. Auto speeds on freeways are gradually increasing with improved car design, and a mandated maximum truck speed raises the potential for a 15- to 20-mph speed differential between cars and trucks.
- Traffic is smoothest when it operates at the natural speed for each segment of road. Large numbers of slow-moving trucks will invite unsafe maneuvers by auto drivers.
- Slower truck traffic will slow down the country’s supply chains. At a time when logistics performance is a national issue, we should not return to the days of the 1970s when the federal government tried to slow commerce down with a mandated speed limit. Previous attempts to mandate nationwide standard speeds failed.
- Speed limiters will affect only freeways, which are our safest roads. Limiters will have no effect on roads with the highest crash rates. Limiters will slow trucks where they ought to be at their most productive, making miles between cities on roads designed for high speeds.
- Lower productivity will worsen inflation by driving up shipping costs.
When the federal government tried to control truck speeds in 2016, we got the feeling that it was a back-door attempt to slow down auto traffic. When one or two freeway lanes are carrying an unbroken line of slow trucks, there won’t be much road space for auto drivers to use at normal speeds. In the 2016 attempt, speeds were suggested to be limited to 68, 65, or even 60 mph. This would turn America’s truck fleet into a rolling roadblock for all highway users.
Comments can be entered at https://www.regulations.gov/document/FMCSA-2022-0004-0001. The comment period closes on July 17.