As a truck driver, although I am busy, I try really hard to stay up to date on any news and information that will have an effect on my industry. I have found that The Truckers Report blog is great at posting information on current issues facing the industry and as such I have turned to them to read about new trucking mandates and laws that will potentially be passed. The other day, I came across an interesting post on speed limiter mandates. This is something that has been discussed numerous times in the past, and while some companies already do this, it is not a federally mandated rule.

While I know that many truckers flat out disagree with speed limiters, I have to say that I have mixed feelings on them. I am all for anything that makes the trucking industry safer, both for the general public and for the truckers themselves. Regulating a rig so that it cannot drive at dangerous speeds should sound like a no brainer but there are some valid reasons that this might actually make things more dangerous.

Most highways have a speed limit of 55 or higher. If you are on a highway that has a speed limit of 55 and your rig has a limiter that doesn’t allow you to driver faster than 62 mph, then you are probably ok but what happens if the speed limit on the highway is 75 and you can only go as fast as 62mph? Going that much slower than all of the traffic around you could cause an unsafe situation and because truckers drive over large areas where the speed limit is bound to change numerous times, a speed limiter is not always going to make the roads safer.

While truckers bear a big responsibility in keeping the roads safe, it is also important that other motorists around truckers take precautions to keep the roads safe as well. I am all for the NHTSA placing reasonable regulations on truckers but don’t those around us bear any of the responsibility for keeping roads safe? I took some time to browse through the comments on this post and it seems as though most truckers are of the same belief that I am. Yes, we as truckers have to take some responsibility for making the roads safer but regular vehicles operators should take some responsibility as well. It seems as though the general consensus is that if the speed of rigs is going to be regulated, then the speed of all cars should be regulated because uniform speed is the key to less accidents.