OOIDA campaigning against speed limiter rule with online petition

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truck-highwayThe Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has posted an online petition against the DOT’s upcoming rule to mandate use of speed limiters on heavy trucks, arguing that slowing trucks and creating a speed differential between trucks and cars

OOIDA says in the petition the rule will create “an artificial and unsafe speed differential between trucks and other highway users.” They say the faster-moving cars sharing the road with slower trucks will result in an increased chance for collisions as cars try to pass trucks.

OOIDA added that speed limiters won’t address safety challenges “that come with driving on the lower speed roads where most crashes do occur.” The group says improving truck driver training and ensuring that passenger car drivers who drive unsafely around trucks are ticketed are the best ways to improve safety in these situations.

The full text of the petition can be read here.

The American Trucking Associations, however, has advocated the rule for nearly a decade. It petitioned the DOT in 2006 to create the rule, spurring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s work to produce the rule.

The proposed rule was sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on May 19, and it is projected to clear the OMB and be published this week.

Following the public comment period on the proposed, FMCSA and NHTSA would then produce a Final Rule, which would go through the same review process as the proposed rule, except it would not have a public comment period.

The rule likely would go into effect two years following publication of the Final Rule.