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03/12/2007 Speed Limiters Comment Period Closing
Time is running out for interested parties to submit their comments to the federal government on the controversial issue of setting the speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to a maximum of 68 MPH. All comments must be received by the DOT Docket Management System (DMS) no later than March 27, 2007. Instructions for submitting comments can be found at the end of this article.
The mandatory speed limiter issue was initially raised in September and October of 2006, when the American Trucking Associations (ATA), along with the trucking safety group Road Safe America and ten of the nation’s largest motor carriers, filed petitions with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Road Safe America petition called on those agencies to develop regulations that would require trucks manufactured after 1990 to have their electronic speed regulators set to no more than 68 MPH, and prohibit owners and operators from adjusting the devices. The ATA proposal would only apply to newly manufactured trucks.
Since its initial presentation the proposal has set off a storm of controversy within the trucking industry. Rarely has an issue so divided the trucking community, with one side saying the proposal is really a backdoor attempt to increase vehicle weight and length limits, and the other side implying that the opposition is more concerned with paychecks than safety.
The ATA cited road safety as the primary reason for its proposal. “This new requirement is necessary in order to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving large trucks,” said the group in its petition. Additionally the ATA cited the safety mission of both FMCSA and NHTSA, and contended that a reduction in speed-related crashes was a vital but missing element in the approach of both agencies towards public safety. “A lack of focus on speed as a causal or significant contributing factor in crashes involving large trucks represents a significant gap in the federal government’s truck safety strategy…it is clear from the research that speeding is a more significant factor in crashes involving trucks than any of the factors that currently receive the largest proportion of agency attention and resources.”
On the other side of the issue is the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). They also cite safety issues, but do so in opposition to mandatory speed limiters. In addition they accuse ATA and the major trucking companies that support the proposal, of having a hidden agenda. They suggest that the supporters are using the issue as a cover for their real goal of increasing truck sizes and weights. Says Todd Spencer of OOIDA; “The petition is designed to mask their true intent which is bigger and heavier trucks…This was a public relations thing to somehow spin these companies as the safe companies willing to pay a little price for safety.”
OOIDAs arguments include the fact that motor carriers are already free to set their speed limiters at whatever speed they consider safe. Indeed many of the larger carriers already do precisely that. The group also argues that having trucks limited to a maximum of 68 MPH in areas where speed limits for automobiles are 70 or 75 MPH will increase the crash risks as cars are forced to maneuver around slower moving trucks.
There are valid factual arguments on both sides of the debate over mandatory speed limiters. For example, simple physics dictates that lower speeds will result in less devastating accidents. At the same time however, a 1991 NHTSA Report to Congress concluded that the safety or crash reduction benefits that might be obtained from truck speed limiting devices were not sufficient to justify mandating the devices. And there are other considerations, such as the economic impact of a defacto national cmv speed limit, or the fact that there are parts of the country with long empty highways, where a 68 MPH limit may not make sense.
As noted at the beginning of this article, NHTSA and FMCSA are requesting public comments on the issues presented by the ATA and Road Safe America petitions. (The request for comments is available at the Federal Register home page, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/. Go to the Jan. 26, 2007 edition, pages 3904-3907.) Those comments along with relevant data and information will be used by the agencies to determine whether or not to grant the petitions and initiate a rulemaking process. In the Federal Register filing both agencies emphasize that the “granting of a petition, and the initiation of a rulemaking, does not mean that the rule in question will be issued.”
It is particularly important that those in the trucking industry, on whatever side of the issue, let their concerns be known by submitting their comments for the record. In the past few weeks there seems to have been a concerted effort by those outside of the industry to flood the Document Management System with comments.
To submit a comment electronically, log into the DMS at: http://dms.dot.gov. Click on “Help and Information” or “Help/Info” to view instructions. The docket number to use is NHTSA-2007-26851.
To submit comments in writing, enclose your comments with the Docket Number NHTSA-2007-26851 included, and send to: Docket Management, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590 | 
