I note that a proposal to limit the speed of large trucks has been put off until next year.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will delay a potential rule on speed limiters for heavy-duty vehicles once again — this time postponing rulemaking to May 2025, according to a regulatory agenda.
. . .
The proposal seeks to cover interstate commercial vehicles weighing 26,001 pounds or more equipped with an electronic engine control unit capable of governing the truck, whereby the device would restrict the equipment to “a speed to be determined by the rulemaking,” per the updated agenda.
The issue has drawn critics and supporters. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has said such limits would disrupt traffic flow and lead to more crashes. The Truckload Carriers Association noted room for flexibility with the devices, suggesting 65 mph or 70 mph restrictions and a need to reexamine policy every five years.
There's more at the link.
On the face of it, it sounds like a useful idea. I've been passed by, and have had to avoid, fast-moving 18-wheelers, and I'm sure many of us have been scared by them on the roads too often for comfort. However, this is yet another "thin end of the wedge" issue. If, after a year or two of limited truck speeds, some unelected bureaucrat or progressive-left pressure group claims that lower limits have been a success from a safety perspective, and that therefore lighter vehicles should also be limited in their maximum speed . . . how will that be countered?
I can think of a few good arguments against it:
- In an emergency - for example, if you want to get someone to the hospital in a hurry - a speed-limited vehicle may prevent you arriving there in time to save the victim.
- Sometimes you need speed to get out of the way of a fast-moving hazard (for example, a vehicle barreling along a roadway out of control). If you can't go faster than your vehicle's speed limiter allows, you may not be able to avoid the resulting accident.
Also, what happens when speed limits are arbitrarily lowered due to external pressures? As an example, consider the National Maximum Speed Law passed in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, leading to Sammy Hagar's famous protest that "I can't drive 55!" The lowered speed limit was extremely unpopular among almost all motorists, and was abandoned as soon as feasible; but we don't know whether that outcome would be permitted this time around. The Karens in our administrative state would doubtless do all they could to grab, and hold onto, yet another way to control us.
Vehicle speed limiters are now mandatory in all European Union nations. How soon until we face the same official mandate?
Peter
20 comments:
I suspect my lady and I have bought our last new cars.
Recently we've started pondering what range of years is the optimal blend of:
- improving machining technology for the engine and trans performance and longevity,
- design over-optimization reducing maintainability,
- parts availability,
- and the right level of electronics for desired convenience, e.g. cruise control.
We're thinking maybe late 90s through late 2000s, depending on make and model. Or a '57 Chevy resto-mod. Thoughts anyone?
Its never about your safety, its about control! When a narcissistic LIES to you and says its about safety, you know you're dealing with a communist.
I have a class A, stopped driving when they put radar and automagic braking in them. Cruising along the highway just fine some asshole cuts me off to make the off-ramp, and the whole truck locks up into a skid? No thanks!
It's pretty much established that the de facto speed ;imit is 10 mph over the posted limit on freeways.
I got pulled over a couple years ago after having sped up to 84mph to pass a car to get to my exit since the bumper to bumper behind him precluded my getting over sooner.
The cop pulled me over and I said "I pass you every day at 80 and you never blink."
He reminded me that I had exceeded that by 4.
I never see a semi speeding, threatening traffic, and I'm on limited access highways for distances each day and I pass them often.
I see the recent immigrant drivers getting lost.
Just another test on How much s..t can you swallow!
Speed limiters are junior league. The real money is in speed "monitoring". As in, a computer will monitor vehicle speed, consult with GPS and Google maps, and compare to the listed speed limit for that section of road. Then automatically issue you a ticket and just as automatically deduct it from your bank account - oh yeah, you'll need to register a bank account when you get your driving license. When your balance reaches zero for driving 3 mph over the limit on the highway during a road trip, your electric car turns off and parks itself, leaving you on the side of the highway. When you complain, your local politicians will talk to you about all the wonderful public transportation options available in your area. Good luck.
The recent Supreme Court decision killing Chevron Deference might chill some of these bureaucratic mandates. I see that as a good thing. Letting administration gnomes "interpret" laws any way they want may be a thing of the past.
Liquidate the Karens. Problem solved.
Having made multiple trips between Middle TN and Dallas in the last year or so, one of the greatest joys is being in the left lane behind a truck. A truck that is traveling 66.1 miles per hour, passing a line of trucks that are traveling at 66.0 miles per hour. Those 30-40 minutes of passing time really offers a time to reflect on how much it would suck to have trucks limited to an even lower speed than passenger cars.
Retroactive sunset
In support of your concerns:
Some years ago, my then girlfriend was bitten by one of Oz's venomous critters while we were on a week-long getaway.
The nearest hospital's ER had recently been closed (budget cuts), and the only solution offered was waiting for an ambulance to take her to the NEXT nearest hospital 100 kms away. Only catch with that was the ambulance had to come FROM that distant town first.
I told the hospital staff to call the police and tell them that I would be on the road north, at speed, and would appreciate an escort.
I picked up the escort just out of town, and we covered the 100 kms in just over 30 minutes.
The medical outcome was good (eventually), but that would not have been so if my car had been speed-limited. This isn't conjecture: she went into cardiac arrest a few minutes after the ER staff got her out of the car.
I attribute her survival to two things:
A full fuel tank, and anti-venene. :)
This is an example of where the Supreme Court's Chevron Deference decision says they can't do it. I wonder what the chances are that the agency wanted a year to figure out how to do it in a more sneaky way.
I don't know who the "Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration" is, but it's bureaucracy and overturning Chevron means this has to be a law passed by congress.
bureaucracies do not turn very fast. I would expect some law suits with high dollar pay outs before they change.
That being said, that might not even slow them down as they are funded by tax dollars to begin with.
If more grease does not stop a squeaky wheel what do we do?
I'm sure there is no plan to actually monitor the various consequences of such technical monkeying, and reverse those changes if they turn out to be largely, or even mostly, negative.
In fact, I'm sure the intent will be to cover up any negative consequences, so as not to embarrass or sabotage the careers of the people that pushed for it.
That is the problem with much of our legal handiwork. There is no thought to a reverse gear when the goals are not only not met, but are largely destructive.
Every law like this needs to contain a sunset clause. These are experiments, experiments that manipulate our behaviors. And mostly these experiments fail, but we are stuck with them.
"In an emergency..."
speaking of emergency vehicles:
I can't wait to have my first heart attack and the emergency vehicle (coming or going) is navigating the 3-4" traffic control bumps as the EM is trying to ...
I often wonder how somone with a bad back travels over streets so equipped
California's loony bin is already trying to do this with cars, wanting speed limiters on all new cars, I believe after 2030, limiting the vehicle's speed to 10 MPH over the posted speed limit. Of course, that means the Nanny State is also monitoring where you are, as the chip needs to know that to know the speed limit on the road you're traveling. ...It's not the speed limiting "They" are after...
As for 18-wheelers going too fast, that's usually not the case here in the Land of Fruits and Nuts. It's the CARS weaving through traffic at 20-30 MPH above the speed limit. Those, and the motorcycles splitting lanes and appearing out of nowhere. Then there's the moron who dives into a space in the next lane barely larger than their car and then slamming on the brakes. The truck behind the moron is left to do... what?...
It is clear to me that NONE of you have ever scrolled through Cat, Detroit (aka MBE) or Cummins electronic control modules that operate those inline 6 cyl diesel engines.
Since the inception of electronic controls for these engines, the ability to limit their performance has ALWAYS been there.
This is not new functionality.
Very few of them made past about 1995 will do better than about 85 under their own power due to low gearing.
I have worked on national fleet vehicles that were restricted to 60mph.
Fuel consumption is the driving factor there.
As for passenger vehicles, most have been speed restricted for years.
As an example, have you ever seen a Chevy pickup going faster than 99 that was still in stock configuration?
It’s all software, plug in tuners can bypass any of it.
TMF Bert
Sorry, but I'll settle for mandatory HARD covers over loaded dump trucks at the moment, not the raggetyass canvas, or nothing, they currently get away with.
Like gun control, it's not about safety, it's about control.
Regarding the EU limiters. According to this theregister.com article they are distinctly error prone and fail to know what the actual speed is for the road.
Here in Japan our new car, while it doesn't have a limiter, does have a thing that tells us what it thinks the road speed is. It frequently gets it wrong. For instance on highways in Japan the on-ramps are typically 40 or 50km/h and when we are on the highway passing an on-ramp the car tells us the speed limit is 40km/h
I have absolutely zero confidence that this sort of bug will be fixed ever
The decision taken after WW2 by our ‘elites’ to move heavy freight from railways to highways has been a disaster.
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