65MPH limiter for semis proposed by the Feds

prizrak

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FreightWave said:
“The Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act of 2019,” introduced on June 27 by Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware), would require new commercial trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds to be equipped with speed limiters set at a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour. Existing trucks that already have the technology installed would be required to set the 65-mph limit as well, while those without speed limiters would not be required to install the technology retroactively.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-senators-propose-65-mph-truck-speed-limiters
 
Makes a hell of a lot of sense for all kinds of reasons. If anything I'd make the weight limit lower.
 
It makes no sense whatsoever considering there are roads with speed 75-85 limits, I won't even get into real speed of traffic. Making weight limit lower makes shit more expensive as it requires more trucks.
 
It makes no sense whatsoever considering there are roads with speed 75-85 limits, I won't even get into real speed of traffic. Making weight limit lower makes shit more expensive as it requires more trucks.
One could have different limits for cars and trucks like most European countries do.
 
One could have different limits for cars and trucks like most European countries do.
Some places have it here, and it's rather stupid. Any time you introduce a speed differential to your roads you make em less safe.
 
The worst thing about semi truck traffic around here is when they try to pass each other. One is doing .07 mph more than the other and spends 5 minutes passing. I sometimes think they do it on purpose because they're sociopaths that get off on making life that much worse for everyone else on the road.

If they're all stuck doing 65mph, then I imagine there would be less passing. lol
 
One could have different limits for cars and trucks like most European countries do.
As we do here. Larger roads have a 80kh/h limit for trucks and buses and 110kh/h for light vehicles.
 
The only way I see this working is if trucks stay to the right and quit driving 3 abreast while the only other passing lane is held up by some retiree in a pickup truck with a camper trailer.

Many states already mandate trucks to have a lower limit than cars. Its not the differential thats making things unsafe, its overworking, tired, lane hogging truckers that are more of a problem at this moment.

Not forcing a retrofit though is a bit stupid because theres going to be a vast majority buying the older trucks or like Craig mentioned, allow for more glider trucks to sell.
 
You will be happy to know that they are looking at loosening the rules on how many hours a driver can drive.
 
There are a whole lot of two-lane roads still carrying a ton of traffic. Here in Utah we have Highway 6 that runs between Provo/American Fork and Green River; there have been lots of improvements over the years adding lanes in the canyon and passing/climbing lanes out on the flats, but there's still tons of two-lane only sections. It's bad enough being caught behind two trucks locked in an elephant race, but this would turn Highway 6 and other roads like it into a slow moving parade of trucks.
 
The worst thing about semi truck traffic around here is when they try to pass each other. One is doing .07 mph more than the other and spends 5 minutes passing. I sometimes think they do it on purpose because they're sociopaths that get off on making life that much worse for everyone else on the road.

If they're all stuck doing 65mph, then I imagine there would be less passing. lol
So they could drive 65 side by side, also even if 65 is max you aren't going to avoid one going 64 and the other 65 because speedos are simply not that precise.
Many states already mandate trucks to have a lower limit than cars. Its not the differential thats making things unsafe,
Thing about those limits is that they can be ignored via a person's judgement, a hard speed governor cannot be. I think a 20mph differential between a 65mph truck and an 85mph car is pretty damn unsafe...
 
Thing about those limits is that they can be ignored via a person's judgement, a hard speed governor cannot be. I think a 20mph differential between a 65mph truck and an 85mph car is pretty damn unsafe...

If you're not paying attention and pull out without looked, sure.
 
Texas recently finished getting rid of the "Trucks must go slower than other traffic" crap.

I-20_eastbound%2C_7_miles_west_of_Pecos.jpg


Letting Wikipedia cover the history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States_by_jurisdiction#Truck_speed_limits

Texas once had separate, systemwide truck speed limits, but they were repealed in 1999 and 2011.

The truck speed limit used to be 60 mph (97 km/h) day/55 mph (89 km/h) night when the regular limit was higher. This speed limit did not apply to buses or to trucks transporting United States Postal Service mail.

Truck speed limits disappeared when all speed limits were capped at 55 mph (89 km/h) in 1974. They reappeared with the introduction of 65 mph (105 km/h) limits in 1987.

Effective September 1, 1999, Texas repealed truck speed limits on all roads except farm to market and ranch to market roads.[168][169]

In 2001, a bill allowing 75 mph speed limit on roads in certain counties excluded trucks, introducing a 70 mph truck speed limit on roads with a higher limit.[170] A bill in 2005 allowing 80 mph speed limits still excluded trucks.[171] However, truck speed limits were fully repealed in 2011.[172]

Night speed limits
Before September 1, 2011, Texas had a statutory 65 mph (105 km/h) night speed limit on all roads with a higher daytime limit. In 2011, the Texas Legislature banned night speed limits effective September 1, 2011.[172] However as of June 2013, night speed limits (55) were retained on some county roads where the speed limit is 60 mph in Scurry County, just outside of Snyder, Texas.

When we had the separate speed limit for trucks, we didn't see any statistically significant safety benefits and in fact had more than a few problems. The Texas truck speed limit being slower than the car limits led to a rise in rear end accidents where the car would attempt to go under the back of the trailer or truck despite the ICC/Mansfield bar (which was actually set up for the larger cars of the 1960s and smaller modern cars actually can go under it - and decapitate the occupants). We've actually had a small general reduction in rear end hits on trucks with the removal of the truck speed limits.

On a more mundane basis, the speed differential was absolute garbage in practice. Texas has a lot of two lane roads - so you'd end up getting stuck behind a slow ass tractor trailer and praying for a passing zone to come up. Texas had a lot of left exits - though they're being removed as interchanges and roads get rebuilt - so you'd get a 65mph truck merging into a 75-80mph (or faster, despite the posted limits) traffic stream to get to the left exits and traffic would back up for literal miles behind the damn thing in no time. A heavily laden 65mph-limited truck also can't get a run up on the flat leading to a hill so it could try to maintain speed better - nope, it's going to start crawling as soon as it hits the hill, causing a massive tailback yet again.

Let me remind you that this is still what typical Texas highway traffic in this area looks like. I'm doing 80, about the prevailing flow of traffic in the middle lane, in a posted 70 zone, and I'm still getting passed.


Throw in every semi now being stuck with a damn near 20mph speed delta becoming unwanted rolling roadblocks and that's going to be very bad for traffic and crashes.

As far as I can recall, there has been no statistically significant increase in road fatalities involving tractor-trailers that can be linked to the removal of the truck-specific speed limits in Texas. Our major life safety issue with semis in Texas at current, as best I can recall, is not speed but Mexican trucks - between human smuggling cargoes dying in the heat, drug smuggling, questionable documentation (forged documentation presented by unqualified drivers) and the occasional completely unsafe brake repair, speed (especially in the era of legally mandated GPS monitoring and automatic logbooks!) is way down on the list of truck problems needing to be solved.
 
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So you suggest in Germany it's mayhem on the stretches of Autobahns where there are no speed limits at all for cars? In Germany trucks over 3.5 t (~7700 lbs) are limited to 80 kph (50 mph) and still there are more accidents where trucks smash into the last vehicles of a traffic jam than there are cars crashing into the backs of trucks...
 
So you suggest in Germany it's mayhem on the stretches of Autobahns where there are no speed limits at all for cars? In Germany trucks over 3.5 t (~7700 lbs) are limited to 80 kph (50 mph) and still there are more accidents where trucks smash into the last vehicles of a traffic jam than there are cars crashing into the backs of trucks...

So you're suggesting that the driving environment is exactly the same in Germany as it is in the US? Because it's not. I said nothing at all about conditions in other countries. The cultures, driving requirements and driving environment are considerably different - you have only to look at the effectiveness studies for DRLs in the two regions to see just one radical difference. European studies of DRLs show they seem to work in that environment, US (and Israeli) study results on the effectiveness of DRLs are that for cars they basically do nothing in those countries.

I am simply commenting on the proposed US legislation and the experience with prior similar attempts in the US, a radically different environment than most of Europe.

We also used to have most semis in the US fitted with 55 then 65mph governors. It didn't work out well then either - and I was of driving age at the time this was the case. It was misery. Also, it's complelely unneeded - all commercial interstate trucks and semis in the US are now fitted with automated GPS tracking systems and recorders due to Federal safety and work time laws, which I'm actually fine with. Thing is, most companies already index the GPS to maximum legal speed. If you're really worried about trucks speeding, just introduce a law making it a ticket and not an internal company warning if you exceed the speed limit on a piece of road. The truck itself will report the violation already. All a governor will do is make US trucks less safe to be around.
 
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If you're not paying attention and pull out without looked, sure.
So on the one hand you are saying drivers need to rely on their judgement to avoid crashing into slower traffic, but at the same time you don't trust drivers to judge a safe speed and support having an electronic nanny limiting their speed?
 
here are more accidents where trucks smash into the last vehicles of a traffic jam than there are cars crashing into the backs of trucks...
And how many of these are various Eastern European trucks with drivers that have no business driving a bicycle let alone a multiton 18 wheeler?
 
And how many of these are various Eastern European trucks with drivers that have no business driving a bicycle let alone a multiton 18 wheeler?

I don’t think this is limited to just the Europeans...
 
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