Letters to the Editor: Speed Limiters; EOBRs

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b>Speed Limiters

I believe American Trucking Associations is putting the cart before the horse on the speed limiter issue. (Click here for previous coverage.)

It has been proven time and again that having split speed limits is more a danger than a help in accident prevention.

When auto manufacturers are required to put speed limiters on automobiles as they come off the assembly line set at 68 mph, then I would say that trucks should be set the same. Our lawmakers should look at the whole issue in this matter.

Timothy Messer

i>Owner

esser Trucking

onover, N.C.

Our trucks are set at 68 mph. If they make it law that the speed of new trucks is to be limited at the factory, they need to make it law that if the truck is turned up above the set speed, whoever turned it up — and the owner of the truck —would be fined. Most shops, including myself, can turn these units up to run at whatever speed they would like.

But we run 68 mph.

Doug Curry

i>Director of Maintenance

.S. Thomas Transfer

airmont, W.V.

I feel that if American Trucking Associations gets truck speed governors set to 68 mph, the trucking industry will become a nuisance — like it was in the early ’90s, when the truck speed was at 55 mph and the public complained about trucks being in the way.

There also are safety issues. With cars not being slowed down likewise, there will be numerous highway crashes from cars running under the rear of trucks.

Jim Billingsley

i>Driver

asnovia, Mich.

Electronic Onboard Recorders

In my many years of experience as a safety director, the only purpose of monitoring devices such as electronic onboard recorders is to make the Department of Transportation auditors’ jobs easier and enable them to raise additional revenue.

No other industry is regulated to the extent of the transportation industry, and it is because we in the transportation industry allow it. Where will it end?

If the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires us to install this equipment, we should refuse to do so until the agency agrees to cover its cost. Continued regulations, be they drug testing, hazardous materials or the like, continue to eat away at the bottom-line profits of the transportation industry.

Jane Tarbox

i>Recruiting Director

efrigerated Food Express

von, Mass.

These letters appear in the Feb. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.