WASHINGTON —The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is announcing its strong support for the Deregulating Restrictions on Interstate Vehicles and Eighteen-Wheelers (DRIVE) Act.
“Nobody understands and appreciates road safety more than truck drivers,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA President. “We want to get to our destination as safely as possible just like everyone else on the road. A federal speed limiter mandate would force trucks to speeds below the flow of traffic, increasing interactions between vehicles and leading to more crashes. It would be like an obstacle course for passenger vehicle drivers on our highways. OOIDA and our 150,000 members in small business trucking across America thank Representative Brecheen for his leadership in working to keep our roadways safe for truckers and for all road users by fighting to prevent a speed limiter mandate.”
The legislation was introduced by U.S. Representative Josh Bracheen (R-Okla.) to prohibit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) from promulgating any rule or regulation mandating speed limiters on large commercial motor vehicles.
Speed Limiters
According to OOIDA, speed limiting devices on large trucks have been proven to create unnecessary congestion and dangerous speed differentials among vehicles. This results in higher rates of vehicle interaction and higher crash rates.
“Under the Biden Administration, we saw blatant overreach that would have required speed-limiters as low as 60 mph for heavy-duty trucks,” Brecheen said. “For example, if a rancher is transporting tractors across state lines, under this rule, the federal government would require a speed limiter device when above 26,000 lbs. I have spent years driving a semi hauling heavy equipment and years in different ranch vehicles hauling livestock and farm equipment. Safety is enhanced in keeping with the flow of traffic as set by state law, not on a one-size-fits-all regulation enforced by bureaucrats in Washington. The DRIVE Act will ensure a future administration cannot revive this dangerous rule.”
Speed Limiters Could Cost Lives
“The National Association of Small Trucking Companies strongly supports the [DRIVE Act], said David Owen, president, National Association of Small Trucking Companies. “Mandating speed limiters on commercial vehicles would increase speed differentials between cars and trucks, increase traffic density, and increase impatience and risky driving by those behind a plodding truck. Mandatory speed limiters would likely cost more lives and cause more accidents and injuries. NASTC commends the DRIVE Act for stopping a predictable regulatory disaster.”
Supportive Associations
- American Farm Bureau Federation
- Associated Equipment Distributors
- Mid-West Truckers Association
- National Association of Small Trucking Companies
- National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
- National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
- North American Punjabi Trucking Association
- Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
- Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
- Towing and Recovery Association of America, Inc
- Towing and Recovery Association of America, Inc
- United States Cattlemen’s Association
The DRIVE Act was introduced in response to an FMCSA rulemaking process announced in April 2022. The agency has received more than 15,000 comments on the proposal, the majority from truck drives expressing opposition.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
The big 5 trucking companies and the teamsters are all for speed limiters simply because their drivers are too patheticly unskilled to even be called drivers, most not even knowing how to drive using a manual transmission, and most who have no ability to properly back a trailer, and all who are a menace to everyone else on the highway with no concern about common courtesy. Speed limiters are primarily so they can compete with real drivers.
Years ago Vampire Chuckle Schumer was going on about lowering trucks speed limit. At the same time a slow moving truck was rolling up the highway at night. A bus full of people were also rolling up the highway doing the speed limit, resulting in several people dead. I sent the article to Schamer and added; see what happens when vehicles are traveling up the highway at different speeds. Schamer never replied, but stopped talking about the legislation. The .gov is our problem. Full up *elected bartenders that don’t drive, making law. Like mayor Pete??
I myself have come across the dread too many times of trying to pass a lower speed limited truck while I was empty and getting by honestly at a pace that is makes any sensible person cringe, just to be aggravated by the driver letting his truck really roll on the downhill thus making it more difficult and longer for me to fully get by until we reached an uphill that really slowed him down. speed limiters are dangerous no matter how you think about it.