It's almost unbelievable how fast our industry is changing thanks to modern technology, over-zealous legislators and trade groups attempting to level the playing field.  The freedom of the open road is quickly becoming a nostalgic afterthought.  They tell us when to drive, when to sleep, when to take a break and now they want to control how fast we drive.  I thought we already had speed limits? Read the American Trucking Association's (ATA) stance here.

I read both studies that the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) conducted on speed limiters and you can find them here.  Just type "speed" in the search box.  The studies were very thorough and concluded that there is reduction in speed relevant crashes with trucks using speed limiters.  However, I also learned some other interesting facts that ATA is not citing.

  • Companies that DID NOT have speed limiters had an overall crash rate of 9.1%
  • Companies that DID have speed limiters had an overall crash rate of 11.2%
  • Speeding trucks are not a problem in the United States


ATRI was commissioned to determine how speed limiters impact safety and they did an outstanding job as they always do.  However, there isn't much consideration on the impact to safety that would probably change if 4 million trucks are all driving the same speed.  In their study, they did identify some of the disadvantages, but no studies were conducted.  The disadvantages include:

 

  • Differing speed limits in individual states
  • Lack of independence could steer drivers away from industry
  • Inability to accelerate to avoid crashes (almost 2% of crashes and conflicts used this maneuver)
  • Trucks will speed on secondary routes to make up for lost time

It's impossible to conduct an accurate study of a regulation that isn't in effect yet.  That's why we don't know the full implications and new problems that an over-reaching federal government will birth with this move.  We saw that with the hours of service change that the FMCSA fully implemented in July 2013.  Now, it has been returned to the way it was.  We don't seem to learn our lessons...
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Please follow this link to tell the FMCSA what you think of their plan to implement mandatory speed limiters on ALL trucks.

 

Comments (4)

Joey Slaughter

Joey Slaughter is the owner of Blue Ridge Transport, LLC. Joey has been in the trucking industry since 1992.

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If speeding was the problem, they would Craig. As you probably know, it's the "Big Trucking" lobby leveling the playing field.

September 15, 2016 15:53:49 PM

Why don't they crack down on the excessively speeding 4-wheelers? Now there's a revenue stream if I ever saw one.

September 15, 2016 8:09:57 AM

Well said Joel! I couldn't agree more. The ATA has other things in mind besides safety while pushing this FMCSA overreach.

September 15, 2016 6:52:20 AM

The law of unintended consequences can not be denied. Government laws and regulations although made with good intent often produce negative affects. Plus, the ATA is not as concerned about "safety" of speed limiters as they are of taking away the competitive advantage small fleets and independent owner operators have being able to go slightly faster than their self speed regulated trucks.

September 15, 2016 4:51:28 AM