FMCSA, NHTSA Extend Time for Speed Limiter Comments

This story appears in the Nov. 7 print edition of Transport Topics.

Federal regulators announced last week that they have extended, by one month, the deadline for public comments on a controversial proposed rule that would limit the speed of heavy trucks.

Commenters now will have until Dec. 7 to respond to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Aug. 26 joint proposal to limit heavy trucks to a suggested top speed of 60, 65 or 68 mph.

The proposed rule would require all newly manufactured U.S. trucks, buses and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating more than 26,000 pounds to be equipped with speed-limiting devices.

According to FMCSA and NHTSA, requiring speed limiters on large commercial vehicles could save lives, as well as an estimated $1 billion in fuel costs annually.

But the agencies already have received more than 3,300 comments on the proposal. The overwhelming majority are in opposition due to concerns that the differential speeds of cars and trucks would be dangerous and cause “rolling roadblocks.”

The impetus for the time extension came from requests by such groups as American Trucking Associations and the Owner- Operator Independent Drivers Association.

ATA and all of its 50 state associations asked for a 30-day extension in a Sept. 9 letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

“In the nearly 10 years since ATA concurrently petitioned NHTSA and FMCSA for action on this important issue, much has changed in vehicle and motor carrier safety,” ATA President Chris Spear wrote in the letter, citing advances in technology, stricter regulatory oversight and increases in speed limits at the state level.

“These developments, along with new state laws and speed limits, have changed the way motor carriers view and respond to safety concerns,” Spear added. “In addition, the proposed rule’s dram- atic departure from ATA’s initial petition in terms of tamper-proofing, the lack of a retrofit requirement and the agencies’ reluctance to specify a governed speed requires additional time for ATA and its federation partners to re-engage its membership on these important issues.”

“ATA is pleased that FMCSA and NHTSA have granted our request for an extension of the comment period on the proposed speed limiter rule,” said ATA spokesman Sean McNally on Nov. 3. “We hope this extension will give stakeholders the time necessary to weigh in meaningfully on this complex proposal, and provide the agency with informed and useful information that they can use to write a sound and data-supported regulation.”

State trucking associations in Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota and Virginia told Transport Topics that the extension would provide them the opportunity to comment on the proposed rule.

A coalition of safety groups including Road Safe America, the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition, had opposed the extension. The groups also criticized the proposed rule for only governing new trucks. “It is critical that this rule apply to all trucks on the road, not just new trucks,” they wrote to NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind.

In its request, OOIDA noted that the proposed rule is “one of the most significant” rulemakings in decades, and the current 60-day comment period needs to be extended to allow more time to adequately address the proposal.

“One way or another, the outcome of this NPRM will impact everyone,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer wrote, referring to the notice of proposed rulemaking.