The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have officially withdrawn their proposed rulemakings to require speed limiting devices on heavy-duty trucks.
In a Federal Register notice publishing Thursday, July 24, FMCSA and NHTSA make it official by withdrawing the 2016 joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that was shelved during the first Trump administration. FMCSA is also withdrawing its 2022 advanced notice of supplemental proposed rulemaking (ANSPRM) that attempted to revive the speed limiter mandate.
The 2016 joint NPRM would have required speed limiters on all trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 26,000 pounds. At the time, the agencies also requested comments on potential maximum speeds between 60 and 68 mph.
After its tabling under the first Trump Administration, the 2022 ANSPRM revived agency efforts, stating that FMCSA was preparing a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) to propose requiring motor carriers operating trucks greater than 26,000 pounds and with ECUs to limit the CMV to a speed to be determined by rulemaking.
“In light of significant policy and safety concerns and continued data gaps that create considerable uncertainty about the estimated costs, benefits, and other impacts of the proposed rule, FMCSA and NHTSA have decided to withdraw the proposal,” the agencies said in the notice publishing Thursday.
The move to withdraw the proposed rulemaking was announced by DOT Secretary Sean Duffy in late June.
[Related: No, the DOT did not remove a speed limiter requirement]
FMCSA and NHTSA said they “determined that the 2016 NPRM lacks a sufficiently clear and compelling safety justification for its implementation and raises significant concerns regarding federalism. NHTSA and FMCSA’s research and analyses contained significant data gaps regarding potential safety benefits and economic impacts, and information obtained through the public comment process did not provide the information necessary to proceed to a final rule.”
Other reasons for the withdrawal, according to the agencies, were:
- Advancements in collision avoidance technologies in recent years that call into question estimated safety benefits outlined in the proposed rule, particularly rear-end collisions in which trucks are the striking vehicle. FMCSA and NHTSA said these crashes could instead be reduced by technologies designed to mitigate or prevent such crashes, such as automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning.
- The NPRM did not include an estimate of crashes avoided or caused, with the agencies noting that it’s “unclear whether implementing the NPRM would lead to a net increase in crashes, including those involving motorists striking the rear of CMVs at a device-limited speed, which NHTSA and FMCSA have been unable to quantify.”
- Agency concern about the uncertainty regarding industry response to daily driving distance limitations that could result from the rulemaking. “Because the speeds under consideration were all below the legal speed limit applicable to these vehicles on many of the Nation’s highways, the rulemaking would reduce the maximum potential distance a driver could theoretically travel in a single day within the maximum allowed hours of service if the driver is currently driving the maximum number of hours allowed by law.”
[Related: DOT set to eliminate speed limiter proposal, keep pre-2000 ELD exemption in place]
