Georgia Injury Law Blog
Proposals to Mandate Speed Limiters on All Trucks Gather Steam
As Atlanta truck accident lawyers, we have supported efforts by truck safety groups to get the federal administration to mandate speed limiters on all commercial trucks.Ultimately, it might be environmental concerns that help meet that goal.
We’ve known for long that reducing speed limits on trucks can help prevent the catastrophic injuries and multiple fatalities that result during high-speed truck accidents.Besides, even a reduction of 1 mph in truck speed can contribute to a 1% increase in fuel efficiency. Environmental and trucking efficiency concerns are high right now, and this May, the President asked his administration to get to work on developing a policy that would tackle fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission concerns.Speed limiters will help meet both these targets.
The European Union already requires speed limiters on large trucks.So do Australia and Japan.Several provinces in Canada have truck speed limiter requirements in place.However, in the US, the administration has delayed taking any action, in spite of the fact that there is nationwide support for speed limiters on trucks.A survey in 2007 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that more than 82% of American drivers supported having speed limiters on trucks.The American Trucking Association also strongly supports a proposal like this.
It’s rare to have a trucking safety initiative that actually has nonpartisan support from all parties concerned, and yet, the federal administration has failed to act on making these devices mandatory.