OTA promotes slower trucks
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005 - 11:28 am
The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) has called for mandatory use of speed limiters for all Ontario truck traffic. It’s asking the provincial government to require all trucks that operate into, out of and within Ontario to activate the speed limiters, sometimes referred to as governors, and to set the highest speed a truck could go to no more than 105 kph. (A speed limiter is a built-in microchip that allows a truck engine�s top speed to be preset. All trucks built in the last decade come equipped with this technology.)
The OTA says its proposal has already won support from groups like Pollution Probe, CAA Ontario, the Canada Safety Council, Traffic Injury Research Foundation, SMARTRISK, RoadWatch, Markel Insurance Company of Canada, Old Republic Insurance Company of Canada, and the Transportation Health & Safety Association of Ontario.
Among the benefits OTA foresees are:
- Fuel savings of as much as 10,500 litres of diesel fuel consumed per year for a typical tractor-trailer unit logging 200,000 km/year at speeds of 120 km/hr. At today�s diesel prices, this would save about $8,400 per truck annually.
- A reduction of as much as 140 kilotonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
- Less severe car-truck crashes.
- Less tailgating and improper lane changes by trucks.
- A “cushion” would still exist allowing truck to pass slower moving vehicles, avoiding “elephant races” (long stretches of trucks operating side by side).
- Less stress on truck drivers to feel pressured to speed in order to make deliveries.
- Improved tire and brake wear.
The OTA has backgrounders and other information available here.
