New DRIVE Act Bans Federal Mandate for Truck Speed Limiters: What It Means for Highway Driving

The newly introduced Deregulating Restrictions on Interstate Vehicles and Eighteen-wheelers Act, or the DRIVE Act, is a short but impactful piece of legislation focused squarely on commercial trucks. Specifically, Section 2 of the Act prohibits the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator from creating any new rules or regulations that would require commercial motor vehicles—the massive tractor-trailers we see on the highway—to install or use speed limiting devices set to a maximum speed. Essentially, this means the federal government cannot mandate speed governors on 18-wheelers, regardless of future safety studies or policy changes.

The Accelerator, Uncapped

This provision cuts straight to the heart of regulatory authority versus industry operation. For the trucking industry, this is a clear win against potential compliance costs and operational restrictions. Trucking companies and owner-operators gain the freedom to operate their fleets without the cost and scheduling constraints that mandated speed limiters impose. If a carrier previously worried about buying, installing, or maintaining speed governors, the DRIVE Act removes that concern entirely, potentially speeding up transit times for freight moving across state lines.

Highway Speeds and Real-World Risk

For the rest of us—the commuters, the road-trippers, and the families sharing the road—this bill raises a serious flag about highway safety. Large commercial trucks already have significantly longer stopping distances than passenger vehicles, and speed is a critical factor in accident severity. By explicitly stripping the FMCSA of the authority to mandate speed governors, the DRIVE Act ensures that these massive vehicles can legally travel at the maximum posted speed limit, which often means 70 or 80 miles per hour on interstate highways. This move prevents regulators from using a key tool that safety advocates often propose to reduce high-speed crashes involving heavy trucks, potentially increasing the risk for everyone else on the road.

Who Benefits, Who Pays the Cost?

This situation creates a direct trade-off: the benefit of reduced regulatory burden and potentially faster logistics for the trucking industry comes at the potential cost of increased risk for the general driving public. While the bill doesn't force trucks to speed, it removes a critical piece of federal oversight designed to keep speeds manageable for vehicles weighing tens of thousands of pounds. For those of us who spend time on the interstate, particularly in high-traffic or construction zones, the difference between a truck capped at 65 mph and one traveling at 75 mph is significant, both in terms of reaction time and accident outcome. This bill is extremely clear in its intent, and its impact will be felt immediately on our nation's highways, prioritizing operational efficiency over a specific, preventative safety measure.