OOIDA opposes ATA speed limiters

OOIDA opposes ATA speed limiters    The Owner-Operator Independent Driver's Association said Friday in a statement it believes a recent proposal by the American Trucking Association to set speed limiters at 68 mph on all new trucks could make roadways more dangerous for drivers of all vehicles.
   OOIDA has consistently opposed speed limiters because highway safety studies have shown that creating speed differentials between trucks and other vehicles makes roadways more dangerous.
   'It may sound like a good thing to some to slow down all the big trucks,' Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, said in the statement. 'But unless you slow down all the other vehicles too, you've really only made things more dangerous. That why some states are increasing previously lower speeds for trucks.'
   OOIDA said studies have also shown that light vehicles speed more often than trucks and so it is illogical to place speed restrictions on trucks and not light vehicles.
   Based in Grain Valley, Mo., OOIDA represents the interests of the nation's trucking professionals in the legislative and regulatory processes at both federal and state levels, and has 134,000 owner-operators, professional drivers and small business truckers from all 50 states and Canada as members.