ARLINGTON, Va.—Since 2006, the American Trucking Associations has been urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require the electronic speed limiters on large trucks to be set no higher than 65 mph, the ATA said in an April 20 news release.
The ATA issued the news release in response to a statement earlier this month by NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind that his agency should issue a regulation requiring electronic speed limiters on all large trucks.
NHTSA also may urge states with high speed limits to reduce them, because large truck tires aren't designed to run at those speeds, Rosekind said.
The ATA petitioned both NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2006, requesting a standard that would require setting electronic speed limiters at 65 mph, according to ATA President and CEO Bill Graves.
In January 2011, the government said it would move forward with that regulation, according to Graves.
“But this common-sense regulation has been mired in bureaucracy for over four years now,” he said. “It is long past time for NHTSA and FMCSA to move ahead with this rule.”
In 18 percent of all highway accidents in which a large truck was deemed at fault, driving too fast for road conditions or over the posted speed limit was identified as a factor, Graves said.
An Associated Press story published at the end of March identified 14 states with highway speed limits of 75 to 85 mph, despite most heavy truck tires not being rated to do more than 75 mph.