Trucking news and briefs for Friday, May 20, 2022:
Two major trucking organizations are asking for more time to respond to a proposal to require speed limiters on all heavy-duty trucks.
In a May 11 letter posted to the Federal Register, the American Trucking Associations asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an additional 30 days to comment on the notice. ATA said its Safety Policy Committee “will be meeting mid-May to discuss this notice and solicit feedback. Extending the comment period an additional 30 days will allow ATA to incorporate this feedback into public comments."
On May 13, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association asked FMCSA for a 60-day extension. OOIDA said a similar joint proposal from FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2016 had a 90-day comment period and said it believes the current notice “merits the same attention and deserves an equal 90-day public comment period.”
“This is one of the most overreaching proposed rulemakings in decades as it relates to the safety of the traveling public, roadway efficiency, and the livelihoods of our nation’s professional truck drivers,” OOIDA said. “Our members are on the road and away from home up to 250 days or more each year. Considering what is at stake, as well as the amount of time and resources it will take to develop meaningful feedback, we believe FMCSA should grant a 60-day extension to file comments.”
Unless changed, the deadline to make comments on the notice is June 3. The proposal has drawn some 11,500 comments since being posted May 4.
Almost 80% of Overdrive readers, polled over the weeks prior to and following that date, objected to the very notion of a speed-limiter mandate. OOIDA has long been opposed to speed limiters, while ATA has generally favored the tech on heavy-duty trucks.
