moose
Veteran Expediter
please advise before i click it in:
Good morning.
To the honorable Congressman,
In the next few days the NHTSA will advance a rule making proposal to the office of Management and Budget, requiring speed limiters on all new trucks to be set @ 65 MPH.
By writing this letter, am asking the Congressman to take active measures to prevent this rule making.
This is a very dangerous proposal that is sponsor by large business, aimed at regulating it’s competitions out of business, at the price of creating great safety hazard to all motorists.
Speed limiters are not a safety device, infact speed limiters create great risk on our HWY.
According to the {NHTSA}National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data for the year 2011, which is the latest data available, 283 fatal crashes involving a large truck had a speed-related factor. However, that does not necessarily mean the truck driver was speeding.
The term “speed related” will show on an accident investigation report if the driver of one of the vehicle, not necessarily the truck, was in violation of 392.2. – 392.2 define speeding as one of 7 criteria: such as speeding over the POSTED speed limit. Speeding in a work zone, failure to use caution for hazardous conditions, or using a radar detector.
According to the report, 82% of fatal crashes involving a large truck occurred on roads with posted speed limits at or lower than 65 mph. most of them on roadways with a posted speed limit between 50 and 55 mph. Obviously, the proposed speed cap of 65MPH will never reduce fatality on roads with speed limits lower than 65. Infact the opposite will happen. Speed limited trucks are notorious for speeding where they can.
The DATA that is used by the FMCSA & NHTSA to support this rule making is flowed in it’s core, as it used VMT {Vehicle mil. Traveled}, instead of the more accurate breakdown of using “accidents per 100 truck-years”. This is a prime example of “tell me your agenda- & I will find the statistic tools to prove it”.
Previous studies shown that vehicles traveling at different speeds will interact more than vehicles traveling at uniform speeds. This hazard also adds great congestion, and creates aggressive driving. As a professional driver I deal with those hazards daily.
Speeding-related crashes on higher-speed roads like interstates and freeways, the very places where a speed limiter would control truck speeds, represent less than 4 percent of all fatal truck-involved crashes and less than 0.3 percent of all fatal crashes, And there is no proof that a speed limiter would have prevented even these crashes.
Clearly the FMCSA & NHTSA, make the data as they go, and do not have the needed study’s to support their agenda.
Putting a speed-limiter mandate, without showing the real-world impacts to safety is a real sign of what’s wrong with our regulatory system. Taking into account the agency’s latest ‘sleep apnea’ rulemaking- starting to paint the picture for the way the DOT do business. It is up to congress to restrain them.
In today world, where speed limiters are allowed, carriers that used them, for the most part, are entry level carriers, that do not have the professional work force needed to safely drive a big rig. With the luck of federal minimum training guidelines, The CDL mills graduated cannot be trusted, and a speed limiter is just one of many electronic devices used by the large carriers to control the behavior of such inexperienced driver. The problem is, that the competitions- most drivers on the roads, do a much safer job.
In today’s trucking world, 85% of all trucks are owned by carriers with 5 trucks or less. It’s a mom & pap’s operation. Those trucks deliver more goods @ a better safety records, this proposed rule will do nothing what so ever to better our safety.
The ATA{American Trucking Association}, which in this case representing shippers, & have lobbied for this rule from as far back as 2006, know all of that very well. This rule is NOT about safety; it’s about regulating its competition out of business, capturing more market share, & avoiding investment in drivers training, or driver’s retentions. The ATA revolving door is what keeps rates down- @ great risk for everyone on our hwy’s.
By mandating reduced speed- more of the freight will be moved by inexperienced drivers.
The simple fact is: slowing down a fleet- will require more trucks to deliver the same freight.
Adding more trucks on our, already congested roads, will increase the costs of moving freight; create more crash opportunities, create what we call ‘road trains’{that’s when a line of speed limited trucks are tailgating for mil’s on, because none can pass}, make passing take a few mile at a time, make car drivers impatient & aggressively drive around big rigs. Make every small hill a road blockage & the mountains areas a snail zoon.
Not to mentions that we will need more roads to accommodate for those trucks. Each & every on/off ramp will need to be extended; we will need more parking spaces, more fueling pumps, more lines of travel, more officers to enforce the law, more technicians, more dispatcher, more instructors & so on.{is that how the administration ‘create jobs’?}.
This rulemaking was supposed to be delivered for the office of Management and Budget by Nov. 20[SUP]th[/SUP], however the latest Gov. shutdown might delay the publication.
Good morning.
To the honorable Congressman,
In the next few days the NHTSA will advance a rule making proposal to the office of Management and Budget, requiring speed limiters on all new trucks to be set @ 65 MPH.
By writing this letter, am asking the Congressman to take active measures to prevent this rule making.
This is a very dangerous proposal that is sponsor by large business, aimed at regulating it’s competitions out of business, at the price of creating great safety hazard to all motorists.
Speed limiters are not a safety device, infact speed limiters create great risk on our HWY.
According to the {NHTSA}National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data for the year 2011, which is the latest data available, 283 fatal crashes involving a large truck had a speed-related factor. However, that does not necessarily mean the truck driver was speeding.
The term “speed related” will show on an accident investigation report if the driver of one of the vehicle, not necessarily the truck, was in violation of 392.2. – 392.2 define speeding as one of 7 criteria: such as speeding over the POSTED speed limit. Speeding in a work zone, failure to use caution for hazardous conditions, or using a radar detector.
According to the report, 82% of fatal crashes involving a large truck occurred on roads with posted speed limits at or lower than 65 mph. most of them on roadways with a posted speed limit between 50 and 55 mph. Obviously, the proposed speed cap of 65MPH will never reduce fatality on roads with speed limits lower than 65. Infact the opposite will happen. Speed limited trucks are notorious for speeding where they can.
The DATA that is used by the FMCSA & NHTSA to support this rule making is flowed in it’s core, as it used VMT {Vehicle mil. Traveled}, instead of the more accurate breakdown of using “accidents per 100 truck-years”. This is a prime example of “tell me your agenda- & I will find the statistic tools to prove it”.
Previous studies shown that vehicles traveling at different speeds will interact more than vehicles traveling at uniform speeds. This hazard also adds great congestion, and creates aggressive driving. As a professional driver I deal with those hazards daily.
Speeding-related crashes on higher-speed roads like interstates and freeways, the very places where a speed limiter would control truck speeds, represent less than 4 percent of all fatal truck-involved crashes and less than 0.3 percent of all fatal crashes, And there is no proof that a speed limiter would have prevented even these crashes.
Clearly the FMCSA & NHTSA, make the data as they go, and do not have the needed study’s to support their agenda.
Putting a speed-limiter mandate, without showing the real-world impacts to safety is a real sign of what’s wrong with our regulatory system. Taking into account the agency’s latest ‘sleep apnea’ rulemaking- starting to paint the picture for the way the DOT do business. It is up to congress to restrain them.
In today world, where speed limiters are allowed, carriers that used them, for the most part, are entry level carriers, that do not have the professional work force needed to safely drive a big rig. With the luck of federal minimum training guidelines, The CDL mills graduated cannot be trusted, and a speed limiter is just one of many electronic devices used by the large carriers to control the behavior of such inexperienced driver. The problem is, that the competitions- most drivers on the roads, do a much safer job.
In today’s trucking world, 85% of all trucks are owned by carriers with 5 trucks or less. It’s a mom & pap’s operation. Those trucks deliver more goods @ a better safety records, this proposed rule will do nothing what so ever to better our safety.
The ATA{American Trucking Association}, which in this case representing shippers, & have lobbied for this rule from as far back as 2006, know all of that very well. This rule is NOT about safety; it’s about regulating its competition out of business, capturing more market share, & avoiding investment in drivers training, or driver’s retentions. The ATA revolving door is what keeps rates down- @ great risk for everyone on our hwy’s.
By mandating reduced speed- more of the freight will be moved by inexperienced drivers.
The simple fact is: slowing down a fleet- will require more trucks to deliver the same freight.
Adding more trucks on our, already congested roads, will increase the costs of moving freight; create more crash opportunities, create what we call ‘road trains’{that’s when a line of speed limited trucks are tailgating for mil’s on, because none can pass}, make passing take a few mile at a time, make car drivers impatient & aggressively drive around big rigs. Make every small hill a road blockage & the mountains areas a snail zoon.
Not to mentions that we will need more roads to accommodate for those trucks. Each & every on/off ramp will need to be extended; we will need more parking spaces, more fueling pumps, more lines of travel, more officers to enforce the law, more technicians, more dispatcher, more instructors & so on.{is that how the administration ‘create jobs’?}.
This rulemaking was supposed to be delivered for the office of Management and Budget by Nov. 20[SUP]th[/SUP], however the latest Gov. shutdown might delay the publication.
