Truck speed limiter debate continues
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 - 3:21 pm
Today members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the OBAC (Owner-Operators Business Assoc. of Canada) have organized three protest convoys of truck drivers set to converge on the Ontario legislature in downtown Toronto. The truckers are upset over provincial government regulations effective Jan. 1, 2009 that require speed limiters to be set at a maximum of 105 kilometers per hour, or 65 mph, on all heavy trucks manufactured since 1995, regardless of where they are base plated.
The province of Quebec, in December 2007, is the only other Canadian jurisdiction to have mandated speed limiters for commercial trucks.
The Toronto Star newspaper characterized the protest as “fizzles out” and expected about 200 truckers to participate. In the event, the entire two-part convoy contained only 10 trucks. Owner-operators claim almost 700 members joined the Facebook group Truckers Against Speed Limiters that organized the protest. The USA-based OOIDA claims a membership of 160,000. The OBAC (Owner-Operators Business Assoc. of Canada) is much smaller.
The owner-operators have found political allies in some Canadian provinces, with Alberta and Manitoba transportation ministry spokesmen saying they won’t pass speed limiter laws, but mainstream industry groups such as the CTA (Canadian Trucking Alliance) strongly support them. Many member companies, citing cost control and safety benefits, use speed limiters on their vehicles even in provinces that do not require them. Transport Canada (TC) in 2008 estimated at least 60% of heavy truck fleets in North America currently use speed limiters.1
Using real-world data from the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way connects the Golden Horsehoe between Toronto and Niagara Falls) and elsewhere TC concluded that 105-kph speed limiters “significantly” increase safety, while at the same time reducing fuel costs and tailpipe emissions. Opponents of speed limiters have seized upon TC’s call for more research on whether speed limiters may reduce overall road safety under congested and/or capacity road conditions, and on certain overtaking problems on two-lane rural highways.
Trans-Talk reviewed Transport Canada’s research on heavy truck speed limiters in July 2008. (Sources: Globe and Mail, “Safety questions raised about truck speed limiters“; 1Transport Canada, “Summary Report - Assessment of a Heavy Truck Speed Limiter Requirement in Canada“; CTA; Truck News, “Truckers gather at Queen’s Park to protest speed limiter law“)
