Speed limiter mandate rule expected to see action soon, carrier scoring rule still months away

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Updated Jan 14, 2015
An FMCSA rule to require speed limiters in trucks is expected to be sent to the White House for approval I’m February.An FMCSA rule to require speed limiters in trucks is expected to be sent to the White House for approval I’m February.

The Department of Transportation stuck with its projected June 17 publication date of a Safety Fitness Determination rule proposal in its latest rulemakings update, and it still expects to send a speed limiter mandate proposal to the White House for approval early next month.

The Safety Fitness Determination rule, in the works now in some form for eight years, has been in the final stages of review for some time now — an FMCSA official told Overdrive in October that the agency’s top brass was reviewing the proposal.

The rule, once final, will give the agency the authority to produce absolute scores of carriers based on a data set similar to the one used to produce Safety Measurement System rankings in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

The rule’s projected publication date, however, has continued to be delayed. In December, the DOT pushed back the projected publication date by three months.

The speed limiter mandate, a joint rule between FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is projected to see action Feb. 2, the DOT report says, as the agency is projected to send the rule to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The OMB is expected to clear the rule in May, and FMCSA is projected to publish it the same month.

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The rule would require the installation and use of speed limiters on heavy trucks, though FMCSA hasn’t said what the governed speed would be.

Other rules in the DOT’s update include (1) a rule to prohibit coercion of drivers, scheduled to be published as a Final Rule Sept. 10, (2) a Final Rule mandating the use of electronic logging devices, scheduled to be published Sept. 30 and (3) the CDL drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule, scheduled to be published as a Final Rule Oct. 30.