Lawmakers Seek To Slow Truck Drivers Down

There has been an ongoing debate about how fast trucks ad bases are going on our U.S. highways.

A proposal that was recently pitched to lawmakers would cap the speed of new U.S. vehicles that are greater than 26,000 pounds to a maximum of 68 miles per hour. This would easily eliminate the speed issues many have with large trucks.

According to statistics currently there are 1,115 fatal crashes involving trucks a year.

Many advocates and some truck accident lawyers have been advocating for ways to protect non-professional drivers.

While many support the potential new ban on speeding others are not so welcoming including other truck drivers who feel as if limiting their speed could create dangerous road conditions. How could this worsen road conditions? Easy. If truck drivers are the slowest drivers on the road many other speeding drivers may run them off the road.

Despite the opponents of the new policy DOT predicts the change will give a $1 billion per year in fuel cost savings for motor carriers.

The organization Road Safe America have been fighting for over 10 years to get this petition passed but are now apprehensive that this new proposal would only impact newer model trucks as oppose to the other trucks that are currently on the road. The organization is hoping law officials will vote to have the speeding software installed on even the oldest trucks.

While there are both opponents and supporters of the rule it is worth noting that the rule is only a proposal and could be months before even implemented.