As a owner/opp in ontario but with 98 percent of my driving time in the USA i can see no beefit to the new law for speed limiters. The posted speed limit laws are on the books now but with the goverment trying to ram this down it just shows there is NO ENFORCEMENT of current laws.
Drivers know that if you speed in the USA you get a ticket plain and simple , as for lowering our fuel costs that wont work most owners have already reduced our speeds , plan our routes and have installed APU devices to save costs , but with every savings increased prices have taken away our savings.
The true answer to the SAFETY AND SPEED is enforcement with a visible police force , you can drive to toronto from windsor and never see a police car Thus showing that our goverment is not funding enforcement as it should .
If large companies feel the need to restrict their truck speed let them do it,the safety problem is a lack of driver training and respect for the TRADE yes i said Trade same as a plumber or mechanic ,The days of the dumb trucker are long gone we are small bussiness men and women working hard to provide safe and secure jobs for the industry
Tom Desjarlais
La Salle on.

It's amazing how people who have never driven a truck can make laws governing them. I hope that they are in a car that is stuck in traffic because a truck is trying to pass another and neither has the power to get past. I doubt that the one on the right is going to slow down. And the cars that get frustrated from having to slow down and wait for the truck in the laft lane to get past are gonna floor it when they finally can. Where is the safety in that?? The lawmakers sure have short memories. Remember all the signs on the back of trailers that read "This truck does not exceedd 90 KMH"? How long did that last? people that get stuck behind a truck need to remember that it's not the drivers fault that they can't get by, it's the fault of a government that made it law. I also think that all those who voted for it should have their names posted so we can remember this come election time.

James your post was excellent and I look forward in reading more from you in the future. Call them as you see them.
Cheers

It would appear to me that whether we are talking commercial or passenger vehicles, mandating speed limiting technology is ill conceived and may be politically motivated by very few members of the one Provincial association with motives beyond public safety. We must remember the Minister of Transport is Jim Bradley, not David Bradley. Implementing speed limiters will not address those issues which imperil the public and members of the industry by a minority of commercial (not professional) drivers who operate in a manner inconsistent to public safety, including at speeds 20 or more KPH over the speed limit on roads with a posted maximum of 80 KPH or less where speed limiters would not have an effect including school and playground zones. How do speed limiters stop a truck sitting less than a car length off your back bumper going 65 MPH? How do speed limiters prevent trucks from rolling over and overcoming Newton's first law "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force" which is one problem if it happens on an on/off ramp, but another if the truck takes a turn in the road too fast or makes an erratic lane change at speed.

Laws exist today which regulate speed. Why, some may argue, are there still vehicles speeding on our roads. The issue is enforcement, or lack of funding perhaps to enforce existing laws. I can't believe that even with this new law enacted, that all vehicles would install limiters or for those vehicles with the capability built into their engine management systems, activated them. If the police and MTO staff have not been able to solve the problem of speeding with current staffing, how are they going to find the trucks which are not speed limited?

Although I am not a mechanic, I assume speed limiters restrict engine performance to prevent a predetermined speed from being exceeded. I also would assume a driver who operates a vehicle where one of these speed limiters are enabled, and is equipped with a manual transmission, could simply depress the clutch going down hill after reaching 65 MPH and the vehicle, due to physics would exceed the speed limited by the device. This type of practise is probably as dangerous if not more so than running 5 MPH over the speed limit but with the transmission engaged.

I can also see the eventuality that a commercial "hack" to the engine management software will be available within months if not days of the law being enacted. This software could limit the recording of the speed within the engine management system to 65 MPH, even if that speed were exceeded. Having grown up in a family that has been involved in the trucking industry for over 50 years, 75 going back to my grandfather, this effort seems to be misguided. Driver's will complain that limiting the speed will have negative impacts on their performance including restrictions of HOS which may prevent them from completing their run. The OTA pushing through this legislation because their members collectively won't implement fuel management programs that share savings from reduced fuel consumption with the driver, achieves the same ultimate goal without placing any additional burden on police or MTO staff to interrogate engine management systems. Why can't all OTA members implement speed limiters for their own fleets and work with the CTA to implement voluntary implementation across Canada and the United States. Why does the OTA need a law enacted? With only non CTA/AMA member trucking companies without limiters, it will make it that much easier to find trucks that are speeding.

Finally, since when has a law which was implemented to change a behaviour, eliminated the behaviour? Have illegal guns become a thing of the past with laws that control and limit gun ownership? Have police found there are no illegal narcotic drugs being sold and used because there are laws which prevent the possession and selling of them? If not, how are speed limiters going to solve the problem of speeding which is in fact a subset of the larger problem and includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle?

More enforcement of existing laws, not more regulation is the answer. Let's put the political grandstanding and hidden motives aside and develop solutions that are properly focused to the responsibility of carriers to manage their drivers in combination with providing the MTO and police agencies with the resources to enforce the existing laws.

I very much agree with james. This whole issue is nothing but level the playing field between small and large carriers . If somebody can tell me how safe is a Truck that drives at 105km/h compare to a Truck that goes maybe 110km/h. Its not the Truck that is unsafe at any given speed, in my opennion its the Driver. Same goes here for the environmental Issue. Just how much polution a Truck produces going at 110km/h compare to 105km/h. I think the resources and effort beeing spent on the speed limiter legislation, should be spent on producing environmentally freindly fuels, Trucks and Drivers. Truck produce more polution while Idling, yet many large companies have not installed a bunk heater or AC in any of their trucks. I thinkk OTA's touted fuel economy, environmental and safety benefits are way over-stated.

I agree with this new law being overkill.I think most owner operators do drive around 105 to 108 and to make this mandatory is really an invasion of our rights.I think Mr Bradley and all his OTA associates should try and level the playing field by taking care of all the incompatent and fly by night trucking companies that are out there right now.Just before Christmas one of these drivers went through a red light and killed two young ladies,and you know what he got? He can't drive his car but he can still drive a truck and go through another red light and kill someone else is this fair? Where is the justice in this? If he was convicted of the crime then it would be discrimanation This is where you start with leveling the playing field .If one of these carriers get hauled into the scale and get put out of service because their truck is junk then it is discrimanation all over again. We all know this is true so why doesn't Mr Bradely and the OTA look into these things before they attempt to control the whole trucking industry so all the bigger companies can monopolze the industry.
Sincerely
Joe Fields

Just enforce the speed limit! Why spend millions on this on both sides,when all they need to do is enforce the speed limit. In Mich.the limit is 60 MPH with 0 tolerance,you don,t see many trucks going over the limit there.In other states the limit is 65 or 70 , some states are even higher.Why penalize us,and force us to work under ont.law in another jurisdiction. In mountainus states you would loose performace and fuel mileage because your truck would have to work twice as hard as it needs to,because you can,t get a run at the hill. I,m 51 year,s old and have been driving trucks for 34 years accident free. Slow down the younger and less experianced if you need to,that,s where most of are problems start. Thankyou.

As a groyp of drivers we are trying to stop the passing of this governing law. Join our petition and show your support. Join at http://www.icantdrive105.com
Thanks

Myself I think it's a good idea,But they should've went one step further. I tink they should've made it so all commercial vehicles to be at 105,Nothing higher and nothing lower,let's face it if you're going slower then the speed limit especially on the major highways you are a target or an accident waiting to happen. You might as well put a bulls eye on the back of your trailer and paint an arrow and say "HIT HERE". More so if you have trucks going out west where the speed limit is 110kms/h, Try driving that at 90kms/h.

Why doesn't our government do something more constructive like getting our U.S. neighbours to start reconizing our Canadian pardons or help Canadian drivers achieve what they need to cross the border,I keep hearing about how the industry is need of drivers but our government doesn't look at what they can do for the drivers. I wish they would get it through their heads without drivers there are no trucks, No trucks, no products!

One more thing....The truck I drive is governed for 90kms/h and I have school buses passing me, These are vehicles that are transporting our future, Maybe the government should look at safety and speed limits of 90kms/h for them or don't they care about our future or the safety of our future!

How they will handel the U.S. trucks and the older trucks with mechanical injection pumps?
I think a better live saver would be ,like in western
europe , a much stonger tail light what you have to put
on in fog ,snow or heavy rain .
Most accidents under those conditions happen because
the car or truck in front of you is seen to late
Edward Bakker

Is there a petition against the speed limit rule?, I'll sign it!

this law is nothing but a push for driver retention by big business and trucking companys that are members of the ota. They say that it will reduce accidents when in fact the U.S. DOT have studies that prove that having trucks traveling at different speeds than the cars actually increase the risk of accidents!but they won't limit cars because that would piss off to many voters!As far as their arguement that it will reduce green house gases, than again it stands to reason that they would be even greater reduced if we put limiters on cars!However they won't because the major auto companies would go crazy!!!!
The issue I have is not that the speed will be limited to 105 I don't drive that fast most times anyway it's simpliy that I don't think the government should be given the right to limit a vehicle that I purchased!This is just another intrusion on my personal rights!
I have started a petition of my own please sign it so we can show them that we are not going to stand for this! www.icantdrive105.com

I don,t believe the OTA or the ontario govermant should be able to dictate the use of speed limiters on trucks if they are going to limit trucks they should also limit cars as i see a whole lot more speeding cars than trucks on our highways when its all said and done i believe it will cause more problems on the highways it just another way for the goverment to stick their nose in our business

It would appear to me that whether we are talking commercial or passenger vehicles, mandating speed limiting technology is ill conceived and may be politically motivated by very few members of the one Provincial association with motives beyond public safety. We must remember the Minister of Transport is Jim Bradley, not David Bradley. Implementing speed limiters will not address those issues which imperil the public and members of the industry by a minority of commercial (not professional) drivers who operate in a manner inconsistent to public safety, including at speeds 20 or more KPH over the speed limit on roads with a posted maximum of 80 KPH or less where speed limiters would not have an effect including school and playground zones. How do speed limiters stop a truck sitting less than a car length off your back bumper going 65 MPH? How do speed limiters prevent trucks from rolling over and overcoming Newton's first law "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force" which is one problem if it happens on an on/off ramp, but another if the truck takes a turn in the road too fast or makes an erratic lane change at speed?

Laws exist today which regulate speed. Why, some may argue, are there still vehicles speeding on our roads. The issue is enforcement, or lack of funding perhaps to enforce existing laws. I can't believe that even with this new law enacted, that all vehicles would install limiters or for those vehicles with the capability built into their engine management systems, activated them. If the police and MTO staff have not been able to solve the problem of speeding with current staffing, how are they going to find the trucks which are not speed limited?

Although I am not a mechanic, I assume speed limiters restrict engine performance to prevent a predetermined speed from being exceeded. I also would assume a driver who operates a vehicle where one of these speed limiters are enabled, could simply depress the clutch or shift the truck into neutral going down hill after reaching 65 MPH and the vehicle, due to physics would exceed the speed limited by the device. This type of practise is probably as dangerous if not more so than running 5 MPH over the speed limit but with the transmission engaged.

I can also see the eventuality that a commercial "hack" to the engine management software will be available within months if not days of the law being enacted. This software could limit the recording of the speed within the engine management system to 65 MPH, even if that speed were exceeded. Having grown up in a family that has been involved in the trucking industry for over 50 years, 75 going back to my grandfather, this effort seems to be misguided. Driver's will complain that limiting the speed will have negative impacts on their performance including restrictions of HOS which may prevent them from completing their run. The OTA pushing through this legislation because their members collectively won't implement fuel management programs that share savings from reduced fuel consumption with the driver, achieves the same ultimate goal without placing any additional burden on police or MTO staff to interrogate engine management systems. Why can't all OTA members implement speed limiters for their own fleets and work with the CTA to implement voluntary implementation across Canada and the United States. Why does the OTA need a law enacted? With only non CTA/ATA member trucking companies without limiters, it will make it that much easier to find trucks that are speeding.

Finally, since when has a law which was implemented to change a behaviour, eliminated the behaviour? Have illegal guns become a thing of the past with laws that control and limit gun ownership? Have police found there are no illegal narcotic drugs being sold and used because there are laws which prevent the possession and selling of them? If not, how are speed limiters going to solve the problem of speeding which is in fact a subset of the larger problem and includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle?

More enforcement of existing laws, not more regulation is the answer. Let's put the political grandstanding and hidden motives aside and develop solutions that are properly focused to the responsibility of carriers to manage their drivers in combination with providing the MTO and police agencies with the resources to enforce the existing laws.

Having the goverment controlling truck speeds is stupid,Let the companys do it,As much as some trucks are,speeders and slow down the major percent of us don,t.It will cause more tailgating,road rage,and traffic backups,Can we sue the Ota when we get into a accident when someone rear ends us as they are too inpatience,Or for the lost of Revenue,We work on a 14 hour law now ,How much time will it cut into our day.The mto should take each company on it,s owm merits,If the companys get a lots of speeding tickets then put limiters on them for a while,Not to penalize every company.