The American Trucking Associations publicized its position Thursday against the Department of Transportation's Aug. 26 proposed rule that could require the installation of speed limiters on heavy-duty vehicles.
Despite originally petitioning the government in 2006 for a national speed limit of 68 mph, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear announced in a release that the new proposal "provides insufficient data, and fails to make a recommendation regarding which of the three proposed speeds it believes is best and why." The American Trucking Associations has since revised its recommendation to 65 miles per hour.
"Most disconcerting," Spear said, was the rule's exclusive focus on heavy-duty vehicles, "allowing passenger vehicles to travel at much higher speeds than commercial trucks. This lack of data and direction only elevates the safety risks to the motoring public."
Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton said that: "It's not that the industry is not supportive of speed limiters, it's the way that it's being applied, without any respect to the original petition. The rub comes in in the one-size-fits-all, and it's only a one-size-fits-all for commercial trucks."
Last year the American Trucking Associations estimated 70 percent of the trucking industry already elects to limit truck speeds. Three of Arkansas' four public trucking companies say they set speed limits at or below 65 miles per hour. J.B. Hunt Transport would not release its policy.
Speed limiters operate via the electronic engine control units in most heavy vehicles. When sensors detect the vehicle has reached a top speed, the computer slows the flow of air and fuel to the engine.
Newton said the industry is disappointed that after a decade with the American Trucking Associations' proposal, the agency offered "a menu of speed limit options," seeming to have been unable to pick one. The proposed rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states, "Although we believe that the 60 mph alternative would result in additional safety benefits, we are not able to quantify the 60 mph alternative with the same confidence as the 65 and 68 mph alternatives."
"It kind of throws it back in the industry's lap as they didn't do their research, and they didn't dig for the data about which of the three is preferable and why," she said. "And secondly, they completely omitted the national speed limit."
The targeted limiting of commercial vehicle speeds could negate the safety benefits of the proposal when all the cars on the road are traveling faster, she said.
"We are for speed limiters, but we are also against speed differentials," Newton said. "When you create that difference between the speeds of modes of transportation operating on the same highway, you have safety issues."
She suggested the potential scenario of Interstate 40 with one lane as a line of trucks traveling at one speed unable to maneuver around one another, while cars drive quickly past in the other.
As published in the proposed rule, the agencies said "these vehicles carry the heaviest loads, and small increases in their speed have larger effects on the force of impact in a crash." They also noted that as most of these vehicles are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, it would enable the agency to better enforce the regulation.
The positions of the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association are "more similar than different," on this issue, said Newton, something generally not the case.
"Such a mandate would have serious consequences such as promoting road rage among other motorists and creating 'rolling roadblocks' of trucks on highways," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of Independent Drivers Association, in a release after the proposed rule was published.
"Many states that used to have lower, separate speed limits for trucks have realized this was not the best idea and changed their policies to the same speed limit for all vehicles."
The American Trucking Associations has requested a 30-day extension of the agency's 60-day public comment period to gather further views from members and submit its comments.
Business on 10/08/2016