Safety advocates fear halt to truck proposal

Trump could kill speed limit plan

— Highway safety advocates are worried that a government rule that would electronically limit speeds of tractor-trailers could be scuttled or ignored by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

The rule proposed by two federal agencies would cap the speed of newly manufactured trucks at 60, 65 or 68 miles per hour. A public comment period ended earlier this month. Safety advocates had petitioned for it in 2006, saying it would make highways safer, and they were hoping it would be in place before the Obama administration leaves office in January.

But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it normally takes at least a year after the regulation is first published for it to go into effect.

In this case the agency and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published the rule last August.

Spokesman Bryan Thomas says the agencies have to review more than 2,200 comments before making a decision.

“I am really disappointed if it’s not done right away,” said John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, who hoped for quick action because the measure has been in the works for more than a decade. “I’m hoping that safety regulations do get looked at differently than maybe just generic regulations because we’re trying to save lives.”

Trump has said he wants to get rid of unnecessary regulations that inhibit economic growth, and has even proposed that federal agencies scrap two regulations for every new one they adopt. His transition team wouldn’t comment on the regulation and said it is focused on building his adDETROIT ministration.

Steve Owings, co-founder of Road Safe America, who originally proposed the rule, said advocates will reach out to the incoming administration to keep the regulation going.

“This, as well as other needed changes, certainly fits the description of ‘common sense,’ which the president-elect has spoken of recently,” said Owings, whose son was killed by a speeding truck while returning to college in 2002.

Regulators and others favoring speed limiters say the rule is supported by simple physics: If trucks travel slower, the impact of a crash will be less severe and fewer people will be injured or killed. The rule is supported by the American Trucking Associations, the largest group of trucking companies in the nation. NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have to decide whether to proceed and what speed that trucks would be limited to.

AP/FILE Highway safety advocates are worried that a government rule that would electronically limit speeds of tractor-trailers could be scuttled or ignored by the Trump administration.