FMCSA still moving ahead with controversial CMV speed limiter mandate

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) signaled that it will move forward with a CMV speed limiter mandate this spring.

Feds To Forge Ahead With Speed Limiter Rule This Spring

In a U.S. Department of Transportation February 2024 Significant Rulemaking Report, the FMCSA listed May 2024 as the publication date for a Heavy Vehicle Speed Limiters supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM).

The SNPRM was expected in late December 2023, but the agency missed that target date.

While the SNPRM is not a Final Rule, it signals that the FMCSA is moving forward with the speed limiter mandate despite outcry from the trucking industry.

The SNPRM will look into regulatory requirements for CMV manufacturers:

“The new rulemaking … will consider whether additional regulatory actions should be taken concerning CMV manufacturer requirements. Specifically, motor carriers operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more), whichever is greater, that are equipped with an electronic engine control unit (ECU) capable of governing the maximum speed be required to limit the CMV to a speed to be determined by the rulemaking and to maintain that ECU setting for the service life of the vehicle.”

What Is The Speed Limiter Mandate?

The FMCSA’s Heavy Vehicle Speed Limiters rule, also known as the speed limiter mandate, will require that any commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds or more be equipped with an electronic engine control unit (ECU) that will be capable of governing speed to a limit that will be determined during the rulemaking process.

While it hasn’t yet been determined what the top speed for CMVs would be, a September 2023 Significant Rulemaking Report originally listed the FMCSA’s speed limiter proposal as topping commercial vehicles out at 68 mph. That document was later altered to reflect no number as the maximum speed limit for heavy trucks.

After a Notice of Intent document was published in April 2022 indicating that the FMCSA would move ahead with speed limiter rulemaking, thousands of truckers commented on the proposal. Many truck drivers said that they would be concerned about increased levels of road rage from the motoring public if they were forced to drive a truck with a speed limiter.

Check out some of the public comments below.

“As an Over the road driver, limiting our speed under the posted limit is not a good idea. First your going to have more traffic jams. More frustrated drivers in all vehicles and major accidents. The general public has a hate for trucker/trucks. They don’t let us merge, they ride our tandems and don’t allow lane changes… I see being governed at the same speed so be a huge disaster,” — Carla Williams

“There shouldn’t be any limits on speed because it just gonna cause more congestion on the highways and result in more road rage type of incidents and that will be on y’all, plus you’re gonna lose so many truck drivers that just are not gonna put up with being limited. Plus most of the mega companies already have governors on their trucks so you’re just targeting owner ops with this. The problem isn’t speed it’s the fact that some of these companies are turning lose drivers with piss poor training but y’all wanna put blame on everything but what the problem is. What I wanna know is how much is the ATA and some of these other trucking lobbyist are paying y’all to do this. Your killing the trucking industry and it’s like ups don’t even care. I know these comments are for nothing. But y’all have to show like you care what we think before y’all screw us some more. Paying 6 figures for a truck to own only to be told what I can and can’t do. Might as well sell it and find another job,” — Johnny Swinny

“There is already a problem with traffic when trucks follow speed limits because 4 wheelers are usually running 5 or more mph over already. So putting speed limiters on commercial vehicles only increases the issue and doesn’t allow for lighter trucks than can climb a hill around another to do so safely.” — Ken Murray

“By limiting all trucks it will not improve safety in any meaningful way. In fact it will most likely have the opposite effect by creating long lines of trucks on the roadways with no easy way to pass slower vehicle they may only be going 3-4 mph slower. Also it will create more issues with normal passenger vehicles by essentially creating rolling roadblocks when a cmv is trying to pass another leading to even more aggressive driving on the part of normal passenger vehicles.” — Joshua McBride

“Just like the electronics logs were going to make the highways safer?? All they do is push the driver harder!! I got out of an eld truck into a paper log truck and don’t rush nearly as much! “Land of the free” right??? Pencil pushers that have never driven a truck before telling us how to drive our trucks!” — Adam Gottschling

“Speed limiting trucks is unsafe. It’s bad enough to have differential speed limits in some states, but when you limit all trucks to a certain speed it will cause road rage accidents.” — Shaun Coit

“I believe this will only make the accident rate go up and also cause more congestion on the roads! You see it already with the company trucks with speed limiters! They try to pass which can take miles to complete and in the meanwhile traffic backs up for miles and tempers start flaring which leads to road rage and aggressive driving!” — Matt Smith