Canada’s trucking companies are calling for the country’s provincial governments to limit truck speed to a maximum of 105 kilometers per hour (about 65 miles per hour), according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).
The law would apply not only to all Canadian heavy trucks, but also to US trucks that come into Canada.
The American Trucking Associations has announced a similar move that would limit the maximum speed of large trucks in the United States, at the time of manufacture, to no more than 68 miles-per-hour, according to ATA information.
ATA said the maximum governed speed effort follows a study of the issue by ATA motor carriers and truck safety experts. The speed management working group found that nearly 75 percent of the trucks evaluated in the study already had speed governors and that most were set at 70 mph or lower.
The Canadian group also is calling upon all provincial governments to make it mandatory that the speed limiters on all trucks that operate into, out of, and within their provinces be activated.
A speed limiter is a built-in microchip that allows a truck engine’s top speed to be preset. Virtually all trucks built in the last decade come equipped with the technology, CTA said.
Safety and environmental groups supporting the proposal include the Canada Safety Council, Pollution Probe, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, SmartRisk, the Lung Association, the Canadian Transportation Equipment Association, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada.