FMCSA Moves Ahead With Speed Limiter Rulemaking for Heavy Trucks

On May 4, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a notice in the Federal Register saying it intended to move forward with a speed limiter rule for heavy commercial vehicles. The notice (docket FMCSA-2022-0004) revived an idea that had been sitting on the federal regulatory agenda as a long-term action.

What FMCSA said it would propose

FMCSA said it would prepare a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking. That proposal would require motor carriers operating trucks in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more, and equipped with an electronic engine control unit (ECU) capable of governing speed, to set a maximum speed. Carriers would have to keep that setting for the life of the vehicle.

The notice did not name a speed. It said the limit would be determined in the rulemaking. Land Line Media noted that an earlier proposal had floated 60, 65 or 68 mph.

Background

The notice built on a joint proposal that FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published in September 2016. That proposal would have required new trucks to be built with speed-limiting devices and carriers to maintain them. This time, FMCSA said it would pursue a separate rule placing the requirement on motor carriers. The agency said that approach would ensure compliance and might avoid confusion about who was responsible.

FMCSA said it was considering applying the rule only to vehicles built after a certain date, such as 2003, when ECUs capable of governing speed became routine. It asked whether that baseline should change, whether a retrofit requirement was needed, and whether Class 3 through 6 vehicles should be included. It also asked how many trucks already used speed limiters and at what settings. Comments were due June 3, 2022.

Driver opposition

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association opposed a mandate. "Limiting trucks to speeds below the flow of traffic increases interactions between vehicles, which can lead to more crashes," OOIDA President Todd Spencer said, according to Land Line. Many drivers who commented argued that capping trucks below the speed of surrounding traffic would create dangerous speed differences, especially on highways with limits of 80 mph or more.

What it means for drivers and fleets

For fleets that already governed their trucks, the key question was what speed FMCSA would pick. For owner-operators and carriers that did not limit speed, a mandate would change how they run, particularly on highways with high posted limits.

Because the notice was not yet a proposed rule, nothing changed on the road in 2022. The comment period was the industry's chance to supply the data FMCSA asked for and shape the proposal.