Latest DOT regulatory agenda shows delays on speed limiters

Washington — A hotly contested proposed rule that would require speed-limiting devices on heavy trucks has again been delayed.

The Department of Transportation’s Spring 2024 regulatory agenda – published July 5 – now sets May as the target publication date for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s May 2022 advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

The agenda is typically issued by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs twice a year. It provides the status of and projected dates for all potential regulations, listed in three stages: pre-rule, proposed rule and final rule.

In May 2022, FMCSA introduced a second ANPRM that would mandate the installation of speed limiters on trucks, buses and multipurpose passenger vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. The ANPRM expanded on a 2016 joint proposal from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and FMCSA. The latter is the lone agency listed on the ANPRM, which doesn’t suggest a top speed. The 2016 proposal specified capping speeds at 60, 65 or 68 mph.

Stakeholders submitted nearly 16,000 comments on the updated advance proposal, in which FMCSA requested feedback on prompts including:

• What percentage of the commercial motor vehicle fleet uses speed-limiting devices?
• If in use, at what maximum speed are the devices generally set?
• What training or skill sets are needed for motor carriers’ maintenance personnel to adjust or program electronic engine control units to set speed limits?

Legislation currently in the House (H.R. 3039) and Senate (S. 2671) would prohibit FMCSA from requiring speed-limiting devices on large trucks and buses.

DOT’s Fall 2022 regulatory agenda listed June 2023 as a target date for publication of a second proposed rule concerning speed limiters. The Fall 2023 agenda set December as a target, but that forecast also missed the mark. A Significant Rulemaking Report issued by DOT in February has May as the new target date.