Truckers warn speed caps will cause crashes, jam highways

DETROIT (AP) — Truckers are warning that a government plan to electronically limit the speed of tractor-trailers will lead to highway traffic jams and possibly an increase in deadly run-ins with cars.

[...] truckers say the government is actually creating conditions for more collisions by focusing on the severity of the crash while ignoring the dynamic of trucks and cars traveling at different speeds.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration analyzed data from 2004 through 2013 and found that on average 1,044 people died per years in crashes involving heavy trucks on roads with speed limits of at least 55 mph (88.51 kph).

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the largest group of independent truckers, says most car-truck crashes on freeways where traffic is going the same direction involves a car rear-ending a truck.

NHTSA statistics show that of all the fatal crashes — not limited to freeway driving — between big trucks and passenger vehicles in 2014, the latest year available, about 15 percent involved cars rear-ending large trucks, according to NHTSA statistics.

The independent truckers also argued in comments that the regulations will benefit the big trucking companies at the expense of independent operators who need to cover more ground each day.