Truckers call for better enforcement against speeding trucks

The Canadian Trucking Alliance recently called upon the country’s provincial governments to take action on the problem of speeding trucks.

The alliance, a federation of Canada’s provincial trucking associations, has endorsed a national policy to pass a law enforcing the mandatory activation of speed limiters on all trucks operating in, out and within a Canadian province. In addition, the alliance recommends the maximum speed of trucks should be set at no more than 105 km-h.

The law would apply to all Canadian heavy trucks as well as all U.S. trucks coming into the country.

A speed limiter is a built-in microchip that allows the top speed of a truck’s engine to be preset. Most trucks built in the last decade have this technology.

Truck drivers are Canada’s safest drivers and are the least likely to excessively speed, according to David Bradley, the alliance’s CEO.

However, Bradley adds, the intention is to eliminate speeding altogether. He says the environmental and safety benefits of reducing speeding are too significant to ignore.

The benefits of slowing trucks include:

* Fuel savings of as much as 10,500 litres for the typical tractor-trailer, translating into savings of more than CD$8,000 per truck per year;

* Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 350 kilotonnes of GHG emissions in total per year in Canada;

* Less severe truck/car crashes; and

* Improved lane discipline and less tailgating.

Safety and environmental groups publicly supporting the proposal include:

* The Canada Safety Council

* Pollution Probe

* The Traffic Injury Research Foundation

* SmartRisk

* The Lung Association

* The Canadian Transportation Equipment Association

* The Insurance Bureau of Canada, as well as the Canadian insurance companies Markel and Old Republic

Herb M. Simpson Ph.D., president and CEO of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, says: “The policy has been developed with due consideration to the research on the relationship between speed and crash risk as well as the relationship between differential speed and crash risk.”