Winter speed limiters and wrecks
T
he winter of 2013/2014 has been particularly difficult for truck travel on all Canadian highways, particularly Ontario’s 401. Yes, the weather has been a challenge but as commercial drivers we are used to accepting challenges and performing exemplary, and really this winter hasn’t been as bad as many past winters although in the past decade it has stood out as a bad one. That being said, I have never seen a winter where the highways have been closed due to multi vehicle crashes like this one. Sure we have social media that is helping to spread the word in ways that have never been available but our traditional media have always blasted out the news of major incidents. And in the past those major incidents have been few and far between. This season however, there has been a huge multi vehicle pile up twice a week in the same places along the highway where millions and millions of dollars of damage has been the result. While the weather may have been a contributing factor in each of these situations, the weather is NOT the only one. A few years ago, the Ontario government rubber stamped a proposal to force all commercial trucks in Ontario to install speed limiters as a way to promote safety and improve fuel economy. It’s hard to argue against the safety 8
G. Ray Gompf flag and it’s even more difficult to argue against better fuel economy in this world where global warming is mentioned at every turn of our life. Many of us did argue, not against safety or improved fuel economy, but against the real reasons for the implementation of the dangers of speed limiters. With the results of this particular winter season, almost in the history books, maybe it’s time to review the government line presented at the time and take another serious look at the arguments against. The scientific solutions to questions not asked are not holding up in the reality of the real world. Every time a computer takes over a human function, there is a price to pay in the devolution of skill level. Essentially, the speed limiter has removed the requirement for the highly skilled driver to even consider speed as an issue. The speed limiter is set virtually at the speed limit, certainly there isn’t a policeman in the world – except Ohio – that would stop a truck for five kliks over the limit, therefore the driver just drives the truck at the speed limiter limit – allowing the computer to control the vehicle. Now, I’ll deal with the fuel economy issue before tackling the safety issue because I don’t want the fuel economy to be lost. The pundits said that by lowering the speed of trucks, and no there was not blatant speeding of trucks. Yes, some less skilled
drivers thought that it was cool to “hammer down” and go but the overwhelming majority of highly skilled commercial drivers know how to and did operate the trucks with knowledge and skill to get the most out of the truck for the least cost. That’s the goal. Operate efficiently while running legal. It’s difficult because some of the rules are so asinine it boggles ones mind, but that’s a whole different story and worthy of more than 1,200 words all of it’s own. But the overwhelming majority of commercial drivers do follow the rules implicitly. Now, with the speed limiter, the driver just runs “on the pin” all the time. There are still the same pressures that were always present but now there is this psychological additional pressure that has in the back of the driver’s mind that the truck will ONLY do 105 kilometres per hour and therefore he/ she must do the 105 in order to get there on time. The driver was only doing 100 before but now with a speed limiter, there adds another dimension to the challenges of long distance travel. So, now the drivers push the truck down the road “on the pin” and yes, sometimes even when the conditions aren’t ideal. The other issue is the elephant race phenomenon. For much of the eastern half of the 401 the terrain is rolling hills. An “on the pin” driver will come upon a truck at the MAY / JUNE 2014