BREAKING NEWS: Speed limiter legislation introduced in Ontario

Ontario’s Transportation Minister introduced legislation that if passed will cap the speed of commercial trucks at 105 km/h by making speed limiters mandatory.

Jim Bradley’s legislation would require the electronically controlled speed limiter to be active on all big rigs operating into, out of and within the province. A speed limiter microchip that has been installed on virtually every new heavy truck engine built since the mid-1990s.

Nearly two and a half years ago the Ontario Trucking Association proposed the idea of mandating the activation of speed limiters on heavy trucks. The argument for speed limiters has been twofold: safer highways and cleaner air.

Whether or not speed limiters will make good on both those claims has been widely debated, but those are the reasons the minister stuck with while pushing the legislation forward.

"Slowing down big rigs on our highways would make our air cleaner and keep traffic moving at a safe speed. Speed limiters are another step in working together to build a cleaner, greener and stronger province," says Minister Bradley.

Naturally, the OTA welcomed the news of the legislation moving forward.

“It just makes sense,” says David Bradley, president of the OTA. “Not only is there a direct relationship between speed and the severity of crashes, but there is a direct payback in improved fuel efficiency from operating at lower speeds and that in turn reduces costs and GHG emissions.”

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