Speed limiter legislation on heavy-duty trucks has been petitioned for by RoadSafe America and the American Trucking Associations for nearly ten years now and has recently been getting a lot of press. The proposal has been slow in coming and will not be published until spring/summer 2016. Under the proposed speed limiter rule, the maximum speed limit for all new and used Class 7 and Class 8 vehicles will be permanently set and limited to 65 mph via the engine’s Electronic Control Unit (ECU).

Historically, speed has been the biggest contributing factor in Class 7-8 crashes. The latest LARGE TRUCK AND BUS CRASH FACTS 2014 publication from the U.S. (page 48) DOT indicates that 40% of fatal crashes involving large trucks are at speeds of 60 mph and greater. Studies confirm that as speeds increase, the number of vehicles involved in crashes increase. The average cost of a commercial motor vehicle fatal crash was $11.8 million in 2013 (per U.S. DOT, FMCSA – 2015 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics).