WASHINGTON — An owner-operator-backed bill aimed at preventing a speed mandate for trucks is getting heavy pushback from safety groups aligning with small-business trucking’s big-business competition.
A coalition that includes Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, the National Safety Council (NSC) and Road Safe America are lobbying lawmakers to oppose the Deregulating Restrictions on Interstate Vehicles and Eighteen Wheelers Act, known as the DRIVE Act, which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month.
The proposal, which would prohibit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from issuing a planned rulemaking requiring trucks to be outfitted with speed governor devices, was immediately opposed by the American Trucking Associations, whose members — many of them — have already invested in such devices for their fleets.
Safety groups are aligning with major trucking companies, warning that the bill would be a major setback at a time when fatalities from truck crashes are on the rise.
“Since 2009, truck crash deaths have increased by 71% with over 5,700 lives lost and nearly 155,000 injured in 2021 (the most recent year for which data is available),” the groups state in a letter to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Fatalities to large truck occupants (largely truck drivers) surged past 1,000 for the first time in nearly 40 years.”
The coalition, which also includes The Trucking Alliance, a group backed by major truckload carriers, and The Road to Zero Coalition, an NSC-managed coalition of cities, counties and state governmental agencies, points out that “arbitrarily stopping FMCSA from this rulemaking process would compromise the agency from pursuing its stated mission — to reduce large truck crash injuries and fatalities.”
According to a recent Trucking Alliance survey, 98% of the 62,000 trucks operated by the group’s member carriers use speed limiter technology, they told lawmakers, with maximum speed settings ranging from 61 mph to 70 mph.
In addition to safety benefits, members of the coalition point to economic advantages of installing speed limiters on fleets.
“Aside from the research that shows speed limiters to be highly effective at reducing high-speed collisions, there is ample real-world use by leading trucking companies that show speed limiters diminish a company’s crashes and improve their profits,” said Road Safe America Co-Founder Steve Owings in a separate statement, referring presumably to money saved by reduced fuel use and other cost savings.
Speed limiters were a topic of debate at a Capitol Hill hearing this week. Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which backs the legislation, argued that studies find having different speed requirements for cars and trucks make the roads less safe. In addition, slowing down goods movement will require more trucks to move the same amount of freight, adding to congestion, Pugh said.
Asked to comment on the coalition forming against the bill, OOIDA underscored the potential for more accidents resulting from speed differentials.
“Nobody cares about road safety more than truck drivers,” said OOIDA President and CEO Todd Spencer in a statement.
“Truckers know this mandate will take safety in the wrong direction. The most significant step the trucking industry could take to improve road safety is to keep experienced, safe drivers in the workforce, so we challenge those who signed this letter to work with us on increasing driver compensation, ensuring restroom access, and expanding truck parking.”
BJ McKay
Operating authority should be something handed out to someone only after they have been properly vetted and perhaps even after 3 years of driving. Their complete records taken into effect when deciding if they are safe enough to operate on their own. It all comes down to training and the individual at hand, as some are not as bright as others.
Phil
The big businesses could care less about safety!it’s fed ex,England,swift ect..that are pumping out inexperienced drivers that are crashing.oh forgot the worst AMAZON DRIVERS!!not to mention automatic only licenses!!!now they watch TV put their feet on dash while driving!!!that’s why increase of accidents!not speed!!!mabe they should make the mandatory governed speed on trucks for under 2 yrs experience drivers!
Donald V. Clark
A vast majority of owner operators are SME or Subject Matter Experts in anything relating to truck operation, many veterans having literally millions of safe miles on the roadways. The flaw in the system is not the average owner operator. As stated in the article, many mega-fleets have speed limiters that restrict speeds down to 61mph in some cases. That would create utter havoc on the roadways if implemented country-wide. Frustrations will rise and then accidents will happen. One primary flaw in the system is the licensing system. Allowing barely trained drivers to drive a CMV on the roadway is criminal. The average rookie does not have the necessary experience to safely operate a CMV.
James Robinson
Speed limiters also render enjine brakes useless when limiters are exceeded on steep downgrades… Tell me again how this is about safety.
Ahmad
The absolute irony of this is that most accidents are caused by mega carrier drivers. FedEx, swift, JB Hunt, Hirschbach, you name it.
Blake Graham
As a 47 year veteran as a truck driver, l can tell you the speed limiiter proposed would be a disaster. The biggest issues we are facing today are inexperienced drivers, road rage,road conditions and e logging devices that causes a driver to run as hard as he can for 11 hours, not changing pace in construction zones. Let’s face it .Since elog accidents are up substantially
Jack
Idk, a speed limiting device isn’t going to stop an inexperienced trucker from going max speed in a 0 visibility situation, you want to speed limit anything? Just limit dump trucks, they drive like they are sports cars, while loaded with 90k, tailgating, weaving in and out, going 80, cutting people off, driving the shoulder to go around a slower truck, hitting bridges because they are overloaded, dropping debris all over the road.
Jeff
It’s not the speed, it’s the human behavior, pressure from companies and recourse of you fail.
Eld logs have made drivers feel pressured, as oh, log says I don’t have time to get a coffee etc, better speed up, drivers lose their focus because they end up in a constant rush.
Accidents are not caused by speed, it’s human behavior and things like eld logs showing you’ll be late etc.
Yes speed in any vehicle doesn’t help if you don’t know how to control the vehicle.
I’m from Canada with speed limiters and it has caused more accidents because drivers get rushed now, try to pass, can’t get out of way sometimes and then a,car hits a truck because the car is speeding.
Traffic delays caused by 1 trk trying to pass another because 2 is heavy, this causes lane backups, patience to go, then focus is gone.
I’VE CHALLENGED THE GOVERNMENTS TO PROVE THAT SPEED IS CAUSING ACCIDENTS, ITS A SMALL PART AS ALLOT CAN’T CONTROL TGEITKR VEHICLE NO MATTER THE TYPE AND MORE.
OLD DAYS WHEN DRIVERS HAD NO ELDS, SHOW THE TRUTH, ACCIDENTS WERENT AS HIGH BECAUSE THE RUSH, PRESSURE WASN’T THERE AND RECOURSE FROM COMPANIES WASN’T A THREAT ALL THE TIME..
YOU WANT GRID LOCK, YOU’LL SEE, SPEED LOMITRRS ARENT THE ANSWER.
WEED THE BAD DRIVERS OUT OF TRUCKS, CARS, BUSES ETC WITH STRICT RULES AND YOU’LL SEE.
SPEAKING ABOUT BUSRS, FULL OF PEOPLE WITH NO SPEED LIMITERS.
WHEN A BUS CRASHES WITH PEOPLE LOTS CAN KILLED, YRS WHEN A TRUCK GETS INVOLVED YES SOME CAN BE KILLED BUT YOU’D THINK BUSES CARRYING LOTS OF PEOPLE SHOULD BE SPEED LIMITED.
PUT ON FRONT OF A MIC, CHALLENGE ALL GOVERNMENTS TO PROVE SPEED LIMITRRS REDUCE ACCIDENTS THEY CANT BECAUSE I KNOW IN CANADA THEY HAVEN’T ESPECIALLY WITH THE ELDS POSING OTHRR ISSUES AS STATED.
CHALLENGE THE GOVERNMENTS TO PROVE.