DOT allows more time to comment on speed limiters

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and FMCSA have extended the comment period for 30 days until December 7, 2016, on their joint proposal to mandate speed limiting devices on newly manufactured Class 8 commercial motor vehicles. As of November 1, more than 4,500 comments had been submitted on the speed limiter notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) across both the NHTSA and FMCSA dockets.

The NPRM and the preliminary regulatory impact analysis essentially concede that small carriers would face disproportionate impacts from speed limiters because large trucking companies frequently use them already and because small carriers lack the resources to increase their driver work force to overcome delays in delivery time.

Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations, which was one of the principal proponents of speed limiters a decade ago, now says that it opposes the NPRM as currently written. The group has problems with the menu of options for maximum speed and the fact that the proposed rule does not address the speed differentials it would create between large trucks and automobiles.

The NPRM is available at https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-20934. To comment with FMCSA regarding the NPRM, click here. To comment with NHTSA, click here.