The rule to require all heavy-duty trucks to be equipped with a speed limiter, capping their maximum speeds between 62 to 68 miles-per-hour will likely never see the light of day, according to one industry expert.
Shortly after being sworn in, President Trump immediately went to work on regulations, issuing executive orders to delay new regulations that have already been published and to halt all new regulations that have not yet been finalized.
The trucking speed limiter rule had only made it to the “proposed rulemaking stage” and was expected to be finalized sometime in 2017, however the new administration’s fierce anti-regulation stance will make it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for the unpopular proposal to become law.
Joe Rajkovacz, head of regulatory affairs for the Western States Trucking Associations, discussed the impact of the new administration’s anti-regulation stance on the trucking industry.
“[Trump’s regulatory] freeze I think is a death knell for the speed limiter mandate — that’s an easy one since so many in the industry have ripped it apart,” says Rajkovacz.
In addition to halting pending and new regulations, Trump also signed an executive order suggesting that agencies propose two regulation cuts for every new regulation proposal moving forward.
“This will be the largest ever cut by far in terms of regulations. If you have a regulation you want, number one we’re not going to approve it,” Trump said. “The only way you have a chance is we have to knock out two regulations for every new regulation. So if there’s a new regulation, they have to knock out two.”