The regulatory trail for mandated speed limiters just got a little longer, and a little murkier, and that has a couple of truck safety groups concerned.
When the Department of Transportation's Spring Regulatory Agenda was published earlier this month, it extended the timeline for implementation of a speed limiter regulation -- again -- this time until May of next year.
The proposed rule would require speed limiters on trucks, buses and other vehicles weighing 26,000 pounds or more. This stems from a 2016 proposal by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That original proposal included limiting speeds of 60, 65 or 68 mph.
This marks the second time the speed limiter proposal has been delayed.
This all could be moot as spending legislation in the House of Representatives includes, among others, a prohibition on the FMCSA spending any funds to require speed limiters. That provision was included in the Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill, which passed in committee and now awaits action by the entire House.
That same peice of legislation includes $200 million for truck parking, prohibits the use of driver-facing cameras in an under-21 apprentice ship piolt program, and prohibits congestion pricing in New York City.
At the same time, the Truck Safety Coalition sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressing displeasure with the delay of a speed limiter regulation and the automatic emergency braking regulation.
"Truck crash victims and survivors of the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC) are dismayed, disappointed, and deeply disturbed by USDOT’s inability to complete the priority truck safety rulemakings the department committed to at the beginning of the Biden Administration."
The coalition isTSC is comprised of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.).
"It is shameful and unacceptable that speed-limiter rulemaking remains stuck in neutral."
