ATA Seeks Support for Speed Limiters, Other Eco-Proposals

[The Straight Story]

ATA Seeks Support for Speed Limiters, Other Eco-Proposals


American Trucking Associations has formally asked Congress make speed limiters mandatory on all over-the-road trucks.

The speed limiter proposal – and one to enact a national 65 mph speed limit – was part of a package of industry reforms ATA presented to Congress, which ATA said were developed to reduce fuel consumption.

ATA First Vice Chairman Tommy Hodges, head of Titan Transfer Inc., told a Congressional committee that the package of initiatives "reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and reduce the carbon footprint of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next 10 years."

Canadian provinces Ontario and Quebec have enacted speed limiter laws, popular among larger fleets but highly unpopular with owner-operators. The reaction is no different in the U.S., where the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association said it "believes recommendations made under the guise of environmental sustainability…are meant to eliminate competition, not emissions. …Those things have nothing to do with making trucking more 'green' and everything to do with adding more 'green' to the pockets of large corporations."

http://www.tirereview.com/default.aspx?type=wm&module=4&id=2&state=DisplayFullText&item=13634

[kestrel91316]

1. I'm in shock. A BUSINESS association asking for government

regulation of their industry??

Wow. Somebody finally made the connection between driving speed and money.

[Xithras]

2. Of course they do...

The big trucking companies have been limiting their trucks for a while to save fuel and reduce costs, which slows delivery times. Owner operators, who don't work for these big companies, have no such limiters and can run at higher speeds, making their deliveries faster. Companies with freight to move often make their shipping decisions based on TIME, and not COST, so these owner-operators are cutting into some of the ATA members business. Their solution? Slow everybody down so all the companies deliver at the same speed.

I'll believe that the ATA is being "environmentally friendly" when they drop the lawsuits they filed against California when the state recently chose to clamp down on truck emissions.

[damntexdem]

3. That lower speeds save fuel is one issue.

But the speed-limiter issue is about competition: if Trucking Company A has speed limiters, it will save on fuel, but its competitors will beat it on delivery times. Having a speed-limiter requirement levels the playing field on delivery times (at least those dependent on inter-city speed), and does maximize the fuel savings by requiring limiters for all trucks. One can recognize the conflicts among types of trucking interests but still decide that the reduction in fuel usage (and likely safety improvements) validate a limiter requirement.

A nationwide speed limit is another matter -- demonstrated in the move away from the national speed limit enacted in the early 1970s. Here, one size does not fit all. In general, larger places in the east are closer together, those in the west further apart. Likewise, state-set speed limits tend to be lower in the east and higher in the west -- partly equalizing travel times. For example, the tier of states from Texas north tend to maximum speed limits of 70 MPH, while the states to their west tend to maxes of 75 MPH. Were a national standard were to be imposed to save fuel, it would be reasonable to vary the maxima by geography -- e.g., Texas to North Dakota might be limited to 65 MPH, New Mexico to Montana to 70 MPH, with corresponding differences east, and maybe west.