For the next five weeks, the public can have their say on whether the top speed of medium and large trucks - a common sight on Charleston's highways and byways - should be limited.
Under a proposed regulation, built-in electronic speed governors set at a maximum of 68 mph would be required on trucks manufactured after 1990 and weighing more than 13 tons. The equipment is already standard on trucks built after 1991. The new rules would regulate the setting of those devices.
Naturally, the measure has the backing of road-safety advocates. But in what seems like public policy in reverse, some of the nation's largest trucking companies are on board, too.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is accepting public comments in response to a joint petition filed by Atlanta-based Road Safe America, a consortium of nine trucking companies and the American
Trucking Association, the industry's main lobbying group. The comment period ends March 27.
Last fall, the groups requested that the Transportation Department study the idea to mandate speed governors as a safety step. Co-petitioners include Schneider National Inc. and ATS Intermodal, two of the nation's largest trucking companies.
Source: charleston.net (
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Rule would slow big trucks 
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