The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated it will again try to mandate speed limiters for heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles. FMCSA announced it intends to publish a proposed rulemaking to follow up on a 2016 proposed rule that was jointly issued by FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That 2016 proposal never made it to a final regulation, and never established a proposed maximum speed, although the proposal discussed possible limits of 60, 65, and 68 mph.
 
This new proposal will require carriers operating trucks with the capability of governing maximum speeds to limit those vehicles to a speed “to be determined by the rulemaking” for the service life of the vehicle.
 
The speed limiter rule would apply to commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of over 26,000 pounds that are equipped with an electronic engine control unit.
 
FMCSA said it intends to move forward this time with a separate motor carrier-based speed limiter rulemaking.  As of right now, there is no defined maximum speed setting and there is no proposed timeframe for implementing speed devices.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board, a federal agency who only has the authority to make recommendations, recently called for the federal government to set performance standards for advanced speed-limiting technology for heavy vehicles and to require that all newly manufactured heavy vehicles be equipped with such devices.