The Ontario Court of Appeals let stand a 65-mile-per-hour speed-limiter rule in the Canadian province, despite expressing uncertainty about the effect it might have on highway safety.
The Aug. 31 ruling was on an appeal of a 2009 lawsuit by a now-deceased truck driver cited by police during a roadside inspection for having his speed limiter set at 68 mph.
Court documents said the intended benefits of Ontario’s speed-limiter rule include lowering greenhouse-gas emissions, reducing the severity of collisions and preventing crashes.
But the driver, Gene Michaud, alleged that limiting the speed to 65 mph would have put him in personal danger “by preventing him from keeping pace with traffic in certain circumstances.”
In particular, Michaud cited such dangers as his inability to accelerate at exits and on ramps where there is considerable friction between vehicles traveling at different speeds; his inability to pass slower vehicles in a timely manner; and his inability to maneuver out of a “jack-knife” situation by way of acceleration.
However, in a written opinion, Judge P. Lauwers disagreed with Michaud, writing that statistical studies have shown that acceleration to avoid collisions is needed in about 2% of traffic conflicts, as opposed to other evasive maneuvers such as braking or steering.
“There was a real debate between those who assert that speed limiters enhance highway safety on balance, and those who assert that speed differences brought about by speed limiters cause traffic turbulence which increases the danger of collisions,” Lauwers wrote. “Where there is debate about countervailing risks in a situation of uncertainty, the regulator must make the call and did so.”
The judge added, “I would find that the legislative choice to set truck speed limiters at 105 km/h [65 mph] falls within the reasonable range of policy choices open to the government.”
In the United States, regulators are in the process of developing a similar proposed rule as Canada's.
The joint proposal of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had been planned for a Sept. 21 release.
However, the White House Office of Management and Budget said it was doing an extended review of the proposal. A NHTSA spokesman said the agency is uncertain when the rule will be published in the Federal Register.
