Trucker’s Voice Doesn’t Speak for Truckers
You drive your truck and I’ll drive mine. That tends to be the code of the road among truckers. But now, the American Trucking Association (ATA) doesn’t want you to drive your own truck. They want the government to start making more decisions for you. And that doesn’t sit to well with many drivers and owner operators.
The ATA proudly announced this month that they petitioned the US DOT, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to limit the maximum speed of heavy trucks to 68 miles per hour in the interests of safety.
That’s right, the folks who brought us the Highway Watch program and call themselves “the national voice for the trucking industry” want all trucks coming off the line to be governed at 68 miles per hour. No matter who is buying the truck. And they want any truck owner or driver who tampers with the governor to be guilty of a crime.
That means that truckers traveling on freeways in states like New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada (states with freeway speed limits up to 75 miles per hour) won’t be legally allowed to drive anywhere near the speed limit. That means that in states like Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania (states with freeway speed limits up to 70 miles per hour), truckers will be below the speed limit unless they are coasting downhill.
There’s nothing wrong with traveling below the speed limit. But shouldn’t that be the driver or the truck owner’s choice?
Truckers have long been known as independent people. They spend long periods of time alone and most resent a dispatcher who watches over them like a hawk. Owner operators take pride in doing things their own way. If a trucking company chooses to limit the speed of their company-owned trucks, that’s their choice. But passing laws that limit the top speed of an owner-operator’s truck goes against everything trucking stands for: make your own choices and choose your own roads. Unfortunately, the most well-known national trucking association doesn’t seem to see it that way.
The ATA’s petition to the DOT, NHTSA and FMCSA justified their demand to require governors on trucks by stating that they believe it is necessary to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving large trucks. In their petition, the ATA admits that “many truck-involved crashes in which speed was cited as a factor do not involve speeds in excess of 68 mph.” They also admit that in about half the cases they studied that involved fatalities, the speeds of the truck driver were not recorded. The studies they cite say that speed was a factor in many accidents- but don’t go on to indicate how much of a factor. Begging the question, “if the driver of the large truck had been going 5 miles per hour slower, would the crash have been avoided or been significantly less severe?” And what about the speeds of smaller trucks and cars? Its seems they’ve come up with an unduly strict restriction based on beliefs, assumptions and incomplete data.
The ATA included in it’s petition suggestions that companies with more than 2 speeding tickets (by one or multiple drivers) for speeds higher than 68 miles per hour be red flagged by the SAFESTAT system and that proper function of the governor be included in the vehicle’s annual inspection.
Our Conclusion? The ATA has lost touch with trucking and truckers. Guess it’s time to start looking for a new voice.
