TCA Backs 65-mph National Speed Limit
By Rip Watson, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the March 12 print edition of Transport Topics.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Truckload Carriers Association has decided to endorse a 65-mph national speed limit in the latest sign of consensus-building within the industry.
In a meeting during the trade group’s annual convention here, the new policy was approved on March 4 by the board of directors. TCA previously had not taken a policy stance on truck speed limits.
Last year, TCA joined American Trucking Associations in supporting higher weight limits for trucks, with either 88,000 pounds on five axles or 97,000 pounds on six axles. American Trucking Associations has included a 65-mph national speed limit in its safety agenda since 2008 and, in 2006, petitioned the U.S. Department of Transportation to require speed limiters on all trucks.
TCA did not take a position on speed limiters.
“If we are at all serious about safety — and we are — we as an industry need to control speeds on our interstates,” said TCA President Chris Burruss. “Its time has come. This is an opportunity for us to get out in front as an industry and put pressure” on groups, such as Public Citizen, that describe themselves as “safety advocates.”
“Trucking is an industry that is willing to lead by example,” said Robert Low, who is president of Prime Inc. and TCA’s new chairman.
Prime limits its tractors to 62 mph for company trucks and 65 mph for independent contractor drivers, Low told Transport Topics.
“We have a responsibility to do the right things and get on the right side of the issues,” Burruss said, observing that trucking in general and TCA in particular have been committed to safety consistently and have adopted policies such as supporting electronic logs to illustrate that commitment.
“This is the right place to be,” Burruss said, citing the need to counter attacks from what he termed “pseudo” safety groups on issues such as hours of service, without citing a particular organization.
“This is the type of policy that presents an opportunity for our industry to improve our image,” Burruss said. “Assuming the high ground helps to shift perception and shift legislation and rulemaking in the right direction.”
“Ten years ago, we wouldn’t have supported any of this,” Burruss said. “Now the industry is doing the right things.”
Low described efforts by groups such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association to block mandatory electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) as “an assault on Prime’s business model.”
His Springfield, Mo., company has about 4,300 drivers, 70% of whom are independent contractors, and all tractors have onboard recorders.
“They are great,” Low said. “You really can’t cheat [on log books]. We can’t understand what OOIDA’s opposition is based on. If everyone has them, there will be no more cheating.”
OOIDA didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Burruss also noted tolling initiatives being pursued in Virginia, Missouri and South Carolina.
“We can’t ignore the cost of interstate tolling,” he said, because of the added costs that would be imposed. “We must be engaged in the fight on this critical issue.”
“We certainly speak with a unified voice on highway policy,” said Burruss, who described the relationship between ATA and TCA “as smooth as it has been in several years. By and large, the organizations are on the same page as to the important points.”
Low said the organizations are working more closely together because of the presence of former TCA chairman Dan England, chairman of C.R. England Inc., as chairman of American Trucking Associations.
