A joint proposal that would require the installation of speed-limiting devices on heavy trucks is scheduled to be published Feb. 15, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The proposal is a joint effort between the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration meant to reduce the number of fatal crashes on roadways. DOT’s projection for publication is mid-February.
Members of Congress have urged FMCSA to publish the speed-limiter proposal. Earlier in January, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) urged the agency’s acting administrator, Scott Darling, to proceed with it.
“We’ll talk about this again if we don’t see this rule pretty soon,” Blunt told Scott Darling at a Commerce Committee hearing on Darling’s nomination to become the agency’s administrator.
According to DOT, the rule would result in a minimal cost to the industry, since heavy trucks come with the devices installed. The mandate goes back to 2006, when American Trucking Associations and Road Safe America sent petitions to FMCSA calling for adoption of the regulatory requirement. ATA asked that the mandate also require truckers to set the limiters to a top speed of 65 mph.
