Editorial: Cap Truck Speed

Many a business executive cringes at the actions of well-intentioned but under-informed government regulators out to make the world a better place.

This week’s lesson in frustration, though, focuses on those who can’t take “yes” for an answer. Major trucking interests are asking for a regulation to require speed governors, to reduce highway accidents and save lives, yet the U.S. Department of Transportation is caught in an endless cycle of examination and analysis.

As Transport Topics reports, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told a Senate subcommittee that a proposal to cap truck speed by using the capability already built into engines is languishing while cost-benefit and other studies proceed.

Subcommittee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) noted there have been 21 delays on the speed limiter regulation since 2011.

The technology to limit speed already exists. Every U.S. truck engine today, regardless of the manufacturer, has an engine control module that can govern velocity. Many motor carriers already do this, both for safety and better fuel mileage. We think it should be required.

Much of what we say in this weekly space concerns our worries about regulators lunging toward a generally desirable goal but causing more problems than they solve — CSA comes quickly to mind.

The speed limiter case is different: ATA and the Road Safe America group have been talking about mandatory speed limiters since 2006. Two years later ATA specifically suggested a top truck speed of 65 mph.

This is a noteworthy development, similar to the trucking federation asking for higher diesel taxes to fix and improve roads and bridges. ATA exists to make sure trucking gets a fair shake from the federal government, yet here it is asking for a regulation to mandate a cap on truck speed, simply to promote safety and save lives.

“This common-sense regulation has been mired in bureaucracy for over four years now,” said ATA President Bill Graves. “It is long past time for NHTSA and FMCSA to move ahead with this rule,” he said, referring to DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Secretary Foxx makes a fair point when he says that much of this issue predates his arrival in mid-2013, but we’d like to see him deliver this speed limiter rule before he departs.