DOT extends comment period for rulemaking on speed limiting devices

Interested parties now have until Dec. 7 to submit comments on whether engine governors should be installed on all newly built commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating above 26,000 pounds.    Federal motor carrier and traffic safety administrations on Tuesday announced a 30-day extension for public comments on their September proposed rulemaking that would require all newly built commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating above 26,000 pounds to be equipped with speed limiting devices, as the American Trucking Associations (ATA) requested.
   The new deadline for submitting comments on whether engine governors should be installed to keep trucks and buses below a threshold speed is Dec. 7.
   The component agencies within the Department of Transportation say they will look to public comments for determining the maximum safe speed at which the engine devices should be set. The proposal discusses the benefits of setting the maximum speed at 60, 65 and 68 miles per hour, but the agencies will consider other speeds based on public input.
   The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking said controlling truck and bus speeds would save lives and more than $1 billion fuel costs per year.
   After years of lobbying for speed limiters, the ATA appears to be changing its position amidst an internal divide among its members.