Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/293070
16 | Overdrive | April 2014 Logbook Untitled-27 1 12/18/13 9:29 AM Text INFO to 205-289-3555 or visit www.ovdinfo.com Speed limiter rule could come this year Spurred partly by a petition from the American Trucking Associations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicated plans for a rule this year that would require the use of speed limiters in heavy trucks. According to the U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation's March report on significant rulemakings, the rule is set to be sent May 21 to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx for approval and then be forwarded June 26 to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The DOT report said the proposed rule could be published Oct. 1. The rulemaking process is a joint effort with the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin- istration and would apply to trucks with a GVWR of more than 26,000 pounds. In addition to ATA peti- tioning FMCSA, Roadsafe America petitioned NHTSA, and DOT requested public comment on both petitions. DOT's report said it received thousands of comments sup- porting the petitions' requests, propelling the agencies to act on them. The rule, said FMCSA, "would decrease the estimated 1,115 fatal crashes" each year involving trucks that would be subject to the speed limiter rule. "We believe this rule would have a minimal cost, as all heavy trucks already have these devices installed, although some vehicles do not have the limit set," the DOT report read. FMCSA Associate Adminis- trator for Policy Larry Minor said at the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee in February that the speed limiter rule could be "retroactive" and that the agency would explore whether the requirement would apply to new trucks only or all trucks, meaning retrofit- ting older equipment. In a 2012 legal case, a judge ruled speed limiters were un- safe and a violation of rights. — Overdrive staff Logbook_0414.indd 16 4/1/14 7:19 AM