This Editorial appears in the Jan. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally responded to our request for a federal mandate to limit heavy-duty truck speeds to 68 mph in order to improve safety on the nation’s highways.
And we’re happy to report that NHTSA’s response for a rule-making is positive, if not yet definitive. The agency last week reported that it was going to consider a rule requiring speed limiters to be installed on big trucks, and it asked to hear from more interested parties about their feelings on the matter.
You will recall that American Trucking Associations in October 2006 asked NHTSA to create a speed-limiter rule requiring truck makers to install the devices on their trucks. At the same time, ATA asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue a regulation requiring that such limiters be used by the fleets that operate those trucks.
NHTSA last week said it was leaning toward moving forward on the speed limiters, but that its announcement “does not mean that a final rule will be issued.”
Rather, the agency said, it wants to hear from more interested parties — in addition to the 3,800 who have already submitted comments — before making a final decision.
The agency said that two studies already indicate there is “a potential” for a speed-limiter requirement to improve safety, but it wants to hear from others and to see a study that FMCSA is currently conducting on the economic impact that limiting truck speeds would have.
We believe that the evidence is already in and indisputable: Limiting the speed of large trucks will both reduce the number of truck-involved accidents and reduce the severity of those accidents.
As ATA President Bill Graves said when he made the initial request to NHTSA more than four years ago: “For the sake of safety, there is a need to slow down all traffic. The trucking industry is trying to do its part with this initiative.”
Reducing speeds also will notably improve fuel efficiency and reduce fleet costs — two side benefits of implementing this rule.
And as officials at Schneider National report, reducing truck speeds doesn’t reduce productivity, even as it reduces accidents.
We’re glad NHTSA has taken this step, even if it is later in coming than we had hoped. Now the agency needs to complete its process and help us make the nation’s roadways safer.
