An Ontario trial judge ruled in favor of owner-operator Gene Michaud today, setting a precedent that the requirement for speed limiters on heavy trucks violated the trucker’s right to personal safety. The judge also said the law violates the principles of fundamental justice because it does not make the roads safer as the province claimed, in fact, it creates a danger.
Michaud, an OOIDA life member from St. Catharines, Ontario, filed a constitutional challenge last year against the province over the law that requires heavy trucks 1995 and newer to have a working speed limiter set no higher than 105 kilometers per hour, or 65 mph.
OOIDA President Jim Johnston says truckers far and wide have had an interest in this case because of the precedent it could set.