speed limiters

[jiptwoo]

I read yesterday that they passed it into law in canada, speed limiters, and they are to be set at 105 km, 65 mph us. Well all I can say is that the us is next and you know it will pass. The reason for canada passing it into law was not safety they said, but to save on fuel and carbon emissions. Trucking in the us is going to turn into a sad day, I know a lot of drivers run 65 and below, but in my days that would never had worked. Some talk bad about ooida, but they are the only ones fighting this that I know of. Well o/o's good luck they are getting ready to line drivers up like robots and tell you what to do with the truck that you purchased. Just my thoughts; which really don't add to too much, good luck fellows.

[allan5oh]

OBAC is fighting it as well, but I'm sure it will go through. Expect it to be in force in the fall, with an education period 6-12 months.

[rank]

no way they can enforce that law

[mike3fan]

no way they can enforce that law

I agree it will be difficult,but if they put a heavy enough fine if you are caught without it and they do random checks at all the scales they wouldn't have to check every truck.

[GMAN]

I believe OOIDA is in Ontario attempting to fight the implementation of the law. The times that I have been in Canada I see more cars than speeding than trucks. These politicians like to make these laws without any real thought going into it. I think the politician's made up their minds that this was going to pass regardless of the opposition. It makes me wonder how much money passed into the hands of those politicians who pushed this through. FOLLOW THE MONEY!!! They don't even have any idea of how much these speed limiters will cost truckers. They just passed the law without any real thought as to any consequences. If they were serious about slowing people down they would insist that cars had speed limiters. That won't happen since these people don't want to slow down themselves. Those driving cars vote.

[allan5oh]

I remember hearing if you're caught going faster then 105 kmh, you are automatically fined with not having a speed limiter.

I guess they're not counting on anyone rolling downhill?

[GMAN]

I don't believe that a speed limiter will maintain the maximum limited speed while going downhill. I think this issue is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I know that if I had a speed limiter on a truck and received a ticket for not having one, that I would file a major lawsuit against the officer and his employer. It needs to be expensive for these people to enforce this type of law. Perhaps this is the way to handle stupid legislation. Just sue those responsible for passing the laws. I don't mean sue the state or province, but the individuals. They will need to answer the suit or get a judgement against them. It could be very expensive.

[allan5oh]

There's just so many problems enforcing this.

1) How are we supposed to turn it off every time we leave Ontario? Most shops have a minimum 1 hour fee, and that 1 hour costs $100+, no thanks.

2) How are the enforcement officers going to enforce this? There are many different types of hookups and software required.

3) What if there is a password on the ECM? Many trucks have this feature.

4) What if my limiter is activated, yet I roll downhill. Limiters only cut out engine power, they do not activate the brakes. It is possible to go much faster then 105. Am I going to receive a "speed limiter not activated" ticket when it is in fact activated?

5) If I'm going downhill, and I do not want a "speed limiter not activated" ticket, that means I must use my brakes to bleed of speed. This means I have to get into the throttle earlier at the bottom of the hill. This hurts fuel mileage and INCREASES GHG OUTPUT.

Overall I think folks like myself(I run 95 kmh, or 60 mph) will actually be hurt by this law. It will force me to comply using example 5 above. This will hurt my fuel mileage.

[GMAN]

I think that they will have a problem enforcing this law. What a bunch of idiots who put this law together. They don't have any idea of what it will cost for the speed limiters. It doesn't make any sense. Who in their right mind would go to the expense of putting one of these speed limiters on their trucks and change the speed limiter every time they come in or leave Ontario. These people don't have enough common sense to hold public office.

[allan5oh]

Well any truck that has an ECM has a speed limiter, it's just not enabled.

I believe trucks with mechanical engines are exempt.

[GMAN]

I think that they are talking about a separate unit as a speed limiter. If you are talking about the ECM, then it isn't a big deal to change the speed limit as long as you have the software and computer. I believe those cost about $800 used. I checked on one for my trucks a couple of years ago. Each engine brand requires different software and computer. But who is going to take a computer around with them for each truck?

[allan5oh]

apparently that's the whole idea of the speed limiter issue, because trucks have had that capability since mid 90's at least. So it's "easy" for them to come up with the idea.

I don't think they need separate laptops, but they need a different connector and software for each brand truck.

[Doghouse]

Sounds like more corporation backed legislation,....who sells these units? and who are their political pets/ lobbyists?

[GMAN]

The one I looked at was handheld. But you need the right connectors for the ECM and proper software. I don't think it is brand specific to each truck manufacturer, but is for the engine manufacturer. I was told that I could use it on my CAT engines. However, I believe you would need software or some sort of module for each type of engine. For instance, it might work on a 3406E, but not on a C15. I think this will be cost prohibitive for the carriers. It is much cheaper for us to simply stay out of Canada than deal with all this garbage. I am certainly not going to buy speed limiters for my trucks. Perhaps their idea is to restrict trade between the U.S. and Canada without actually breaking any trade agreements. By using speed limiter legislation they are not actually breaking any trade agreements. Canadian trucks can enter the U.S. but ours cannot unless we comply with the speed limiter legislation. I think it would be cheaper to just pay the fines than go to the cost of buying and installing a speed limiter in each truck.

[rank]

The Ontario Trucking Association is the entity spearheading this movement. They lobbied the politicians, who of course are on board because if they oppose it, then the next speeding truck that kills someone is the politicians fault.

IMO, this is a clever way for the Ontario based carriers ----and there are alot of them on side with this scam----to increase their market share in ON by keeping out of province carriers away. Plain and simple. US carriers are likely to interline with Ontario carriers by dropping Ontario bound freight at a depot.

If I were the US carriers, I would lobby the US gov for a law that mandated all speed limiters be set to 107 KPH. Why should ON trucks be allowed to go into the US without reprogramming their limiters?

[GMAN]

I think that trucks coming into this country should be able to do the posted speed limit in all states in which they travel. It might be a good way to turn this type of legislation around. Of course, the ATA and some of the larger U.S. carriers are pushing for speed limiters in this country comparable to those in Canada. ATA only represents about 14% of the carriers in the U.S., but they carry a lot of clout. If they have their way we will be forced to do the same thing here as they are in Canada.