An interesting idea has been floated by U.S. lawmakers to try to curb the number of truck accidents on American roadways. The idea is to pass a law that would force trucks and trucking companies to install devices on their vehicles that would prevent these large vehicles from traveling faster than a certain speed. The specifics haven’t been announced yet for the proposal, but the report says that lawmakers have considered 60, 65 and 68 miles per hour. If approved, truck drivers would be physically unable from making their trucks travel faster than the speed lawmakers decide on.
There are a lot of assumptions here. First, the la actually needs to be drawn up and proposed. Then it actually has to pass. And then we have to see how it is implemented and followed by truck companies and truckers. But the idea is a good one, and in practice it could really limit the number of accidents out on the road that involve trucks.
Even if this law is passed though, it would be interesting to see how trucking companies respond. For example, this possible law would only apply to trucks that were above a certain weight. So would trucking companies then go out of their way to make their trucks lighter or pack less cargo in them so they weren’t subject to this speed limit? Regulation would become an issue if a law like this were passed.
Ultimately, this potential law gets at an integral part of road safety: trucks are large, dangerous vehicles, and they shouldn’t be traveling at fast speeds given their power and size. When operated negligently, the drivers and the trucking company could be held liable for an accident.
Source: CBS Boston, “US Wants To Force Lower Speeds On Truck And Bus Drivers,” Tom Krisher, Aug. 26, 2016
