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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced that they will be delaying a proposal that saw some controversy regarding speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks. The proposal would instate a requirement for any heavy-duty truck to have an installed speed limiter. The delay pushes this back until May. The delay was actually announced by the Administration at the end of last month, on January 28^th. The FMCSA has not yet announced a reason for the delay, nor the official date on which they plan to have the proposal take action, only saying for now that the goal is May.

This proposal has been in the works for several years but has faced much controversy over that time.

Due to the controversy and frequent delays, no official ruling has been made in one way or another with regard to the proposal. So come May, people are hoping that there is some sort of decision made so that the proposal can at least be laid to rest one way or another. However, in May, it could still not have a final decision made and it could be tabled once again or simply be dragged out even more.

The proposal was first brought to light in 2016 when the FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a joint statement about their want to instate speed limiting regulations. They were working together, at the time, on coming to an agreement on how to proceed in this direction. Since the 2016 proposal of regulation, the goal has grown to include manufacturing requirements, such as a speed limiting device, which is what the FMCSA is currently delaying.

The FMCSA has not publicly announced a plan for what the speed limit will be set to.

Several truckers have been polled to learn what their feelings are towards the ruling. A majority of larger companies polled expressed support for the ruling, as long as they approve of what the speed peak is. Smaller companies, however, expressed concerns about their safety and business, believing the speed limiter will actually put them at greater risk.

This is where the controversy lies. Will these devices actually improve safety? Will these devices harm small businesses? Unfortunately, for now, it is impossible to know.