Mandatory devices to limit speed for BC commercial truck drivers

Starting today (Friday), heavy commercial vehicles in BC will be using speed-limiter devices to help moderate their speeds on provincial highways.

Commercial vehicles with a gross-vehicle-weight rating of just under 11,800 kilograms manufactured after 1994 will need to have these devices installed in order to operate in the province.

Dave Earle with the BC Trucking Association told Vista Radio while there is no silver bullet to improving truck safety, this does follow the lead of Ontario, which implemented this 15 years ago.

“There are going to be impacts on longer lanes where drivers are right up against those longer hours of service requirements but the trade-off is really significant safety improvements.”

“The real push came a few years ago when after having this in place for 10 years (in Ontario) the Ministry of Transporation there did a study, took a look at the frequency of motor vehicle accidents where commercial vehicles were at fault, which is the real minority at 20%. But, where they are at fault was where speed was a contributing factor – speed limiters reduced the frequency of those incidents by 70%.”

Earle adds while it won’t prevent every dangerous situation on the road, it’s a step in the right direction.

“You think of a truck coming through Prince George on the by-pass doing one-hundred and five, that is dangerous as well so it’s not going to fix everything but it’s a step in the right direction and we hope the message is sent that says okay let’s be safe as we move out on those roads,” said Earle.

“There isn’t a lane of highway in northern BC that has a speed-limit above 100 kilometres an hour – so notionally, this will have no impact. If drivers are driving in excess above the speed limit, they are breaking the law – so you have never been able to do that unless you are breaking the law. We are completely alive to really sensitive to what this does for overtaking maneuvers on single-lane highways.”

The devices must be programmed to a maximum speed of 105 km/hr – any vehicle that does not have a speed-limiter or having it accurately programmed will result in a $368 fine.