White House agenda loses speed limiter law

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Neither the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be looking to make speed limiters mandatory in the U.S. in the near future.

The agencies appear to have stopping pursuing the regulation to meet a presidential decree that requires two existing regulations to be eliminated for every new one that is introduced.

Put on the agenda last September after a decade of lobbying by the industry and safety advocates, the item was not on the revised unified agenda released by the White House last week, nor on the agenda of either agency.

“By amending and eliminating regulations that are ineffective, duplicative, and obsolete, the administration can promote economic growth and innovation and protect individual liberty,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said about the new agenda, echoing the president’s thoughts on the January order.

Speed limiter laws require trucks to be sold with a device onboard, and for the device to be maintained and used by the buyer and driver. The devices have been installed on most new trucks for about 25 years. New regulations would require they be turned on and used within a specified speed limit.

Speed limiters set top speeds in Ontario at 105 kilometers per hour. A maximum speed limit had not yet been established for the U.S. when the item was removed from the agenda.

Opponents of the regulation, such as the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Associations, complained the lack of specifics with regards to speed, the difference between the established maximums and state speed laws, and a lack of research made the proposed regulation dangerous.

Advocates of the law say it would reduce accidents and increase fuel-efficiency as well as safety.


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