For those of you that follow trucking regulation, you will be happy to know that in late June the USDOT withdrew its proposal to mandate speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles.
The Biden administration published a noticed in 2022 that considered requiring speed limiters on most commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds. Truck safety groups called for a top speed of 60 mph – even though trucks would be travelling on highways with speed limits as fast as 80 and 85 mph.
Truck drivers across the nation united in opposition. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration received more than 15, 000 comments on the proposal. Most of the comments came from truck drivers concerned about dangerous speed differentials, road rage and the inability to accelerate to avoid a crash.
The withdrawal is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Both FMCSA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pulled the rulemaking.
For now, the speed limiter proposal is dead. The good news for truckers and the trucking industry is that a speed limiter mandate is off the table through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term. The bad news is that the next administration, depending on which side of the teeter-totter… could resurrect the proposal and put it back in place.
As for now and the next 3.5 years, its business as usual.
Be safe!
George Wood