US wants to force lower speeds on truck and bus drivers

Associated Press ^ | Aug 26, 2016 4:55 PM EDT | Tom Krisher

[Olog-hai]

The U.S. is seeking to forcibly limit how fast trucks, buses and other large vehicles can travel on the nation’s highways.

A new proposal Friday would impose a nationwide limit by electronically capping speeds with a device on newly made U.S. vehicles that weigh more than 26,000 pounds. Regulators are considering a cap of 60, 65 or 68 mph, though that could change. Whatever the speed limit, drivers would be physically prevented from exceeding it.

The proposal, which comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, does not force older heavy vehicles to add the speed-limiting technology, but the regulators are still considering it.

The government said capping speeds for new large vehicles will reduce the 1,115 fatal crashes involving heavy trucks that occur each year and save $1 billion in fuel costs. …

[Hugh the Scot]

Only the US government could come up with an idea thus stupid. This not only won’t reduce accidents, but will cause many more.

[VTenigma]

I, for one, welcome our regulatory masters - not!

[Still Thinking]

Oh great, so now the slow ones will block the fast lane for 5 miles while passing the even slower ones, instead of just two like now. [eyeroll]

If they MUST do this, it should only be instituted on highways of three or more lanes in each direction (or better yet, not at all).

[NYRepublican72]

Only the US government could come up with an idea thus stupid. This not only won’t reduce accidents, but will cause many more.

Amen. Everyone will have to go around these trucks, which is much more dangerous. Especially if the cap on these is at 68, which is less than the speed limit in a lot of places.

[Jonty30]

Ok, so it will save $1 billion dollars in fuel costs. How much will be lost by paying out over time and the extra time it will take to deliver goods?

[rktman]

U-haul did that a long time ago. LOL! Like no one ever thought “they” wouldn’t sooner or later try to enact speed control on all vehicles. Hey, how about we put a speed limit on bullets too. You could still have a gun and ammo. Unfortunately, your bullet velocity has been restricted to 25 mph. :-)

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I work in transportation (logistics) and this will kill the trucking industry. Expedite carriers such as Panther and guaranteed deliveries on less-than-truckload carriers (LTL) would go away, resulting in end customers getting shutdown due to not getting their product in a timely manner.

Also, an unintended consequence is that more product will be shipped in cargo vans and 12" straight trucks, in order to get around the regulations.

The Federal Government is out of control. We have two bureaucracies that deal with transportation. This is pure insanity.

[Secret Agent Man]

I imagine there would be some necessary times a driver would need to exceed these limits. i say hell no.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Fedzilla needs to be tamed
and put back into its Constitutional cage.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

They want to be able to Michael Hastings anybody at any time.

[Secret Agent Man]

a second hell no because the end game is this on everyone’s cars.

[combat_boots]

Ah U-Haul regulators for all.

[TexasGator]

Visit CA ...

[combat_boots]

Yup

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

The trucks on a incline will be a nightmare. Especially carrying heavy freight. Many of them speed up before an incline to keep a steady pace as not to gear down so low and snag up the flow of traffic.

Yes, I’ve drove a manual car for several years.

[Jonty30]

It is coming on all cars, but probably not through legislating how fast cars can go but through the driverless cars.

[JediJones]

What happens when the programmer puts the code in backwards and the bus can't go below 65 mph?

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

‘I drove’

[Jeff Chandler]

The entire economy is based upon just-in-time delivery and has been since the 80s. This will be highly inflationary.