Big rigs limited to 65 mph

[IndyIan]

I'm for the speed limiter, since the police won't enforce the simplest of traffic laws here. If they enforced tailgating, driving to fast for the conditions, and speeding for trucks soon they won't need a limiter. Although next will be limiters for cars... We have a provincial police chief whose answer for every problem is more laws and cops... No thinking required.
Ian

[MazdaMatt]

Ian... that's EXACTLY my thoughts on Fantino... and with higher gas prices and bad weather limiting the number of people on the roads on long weekends... he STILL manages to take credit (due to the "street racing" law) for the reduction in road fatalities this year even though every province and state showed the same.

[gascort]

Originally Posted by 99metro

This is from a Colorado website:
* For bobtails (trucks without a trailer) and empty trucks, the stopping distance is even greater because the lighter load has less traction. Heavy trucks are designed with brakes, tires, springs and shock absorbers optimized with the weight of a full load.

The "less traction" statement is ridiculous. Yes, there's less friction. There's also (proportionally) less Kinetic Energy in the truck and (proportionally) less work to be done in stopping the truck. Therefore, it makes no difference.
I will agree with the brake/susp. setup argument though; a heavily loaded truck can put huge amounts of stopping force on the rear brakes due to the weight on them, while an unloaded truck would need to use mainly the fronts...

[ATaylorRacing]

Wait a minute.....the last time I drove on the 401 in CDN the speed limit was 100k for everyone....that was in 2000...was the limit changed?

Of course back then about everone drov around 110-120k and the close we got to Toronto the faster the cars went, until they hit bumper to bumper traffic.

Someone update me on the Ontario speed limits please.

[trebuchet03]

Awesome
Driving cross country I noticed the long haul truckers were hanging around at speeds between 55 and 65mph anyway

The "less traction" statement is ridiculous. Yes, there's less friction. There's also (proportionally) less Kinetic Energy in the truck and (proportionally) less work to be done in stopping the truck.

I'll buy it - never underestimate the amount of energy stored in your suspension while braking While uncommon - jackknifing is more likely to happen on an empty trailer...

As far as higher accident risk... We'll see how insurance rates change after the law goes into effect... If anyone knows - the insurance agency will.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by 99metro

This is from a Colorado website:

Increased Stopping Distance
The unique features of large rigs also contribute to many accidents:

* Stopping distance for a truck is dramatically greater than a car - for a speed of 65 mph it takes a car about 162 feet to stop, but a semi-truck needs about 420 feet to stop.
* For bobtails (trucks without a trailer) and empty trucks, the stopping distance is even greater because the lighter load has less traction. Heavy trucks are designed with brakes, tires, springs and shock absorbers optimized with the weight of a full load.

This is why its deadly when a semi tailgates a car. If that car has to suddenly put on the brakes, the truck can't slow down as fast and will over ride the car.

This same physics applies in a lesser degree to large SUVs and pickups. They can't stop as fast as that small car they are tailgating and will rear end them if the car has to hit the binders.

[MazdaMatt]

The speed limit on all ontario freeways (ie, 400-series highways, QEW) is 100km/h for everybody. The standard speed of travel is 110-120, with many outliers (100 or 135).

So... limiting trucks to 100km/h is not really all that big a deal... oh no... they can't SPEED. I sorta wish that every car was limited to 100... so much safer, so little stress.

[bgd73]

like a honda or metro or smart car or yugo or other 12 inch wheeled SELFconscious econo driver, it is not about speed, it is about safety.

The dynamics of throttle and driver is safety...limiting trucks is like limiting a ferrari or vette or anything. Target rigs and target anything. It is a political move. Not a real one.

limit drivers and little cars from 65mph places and see what uproar ensues...even though that made more sense.

62mph is a 1980s mechanical injection speed limiter foir rigs, those a re looooooong gone as a majority where I live. now there is speed limits and ability to be aggressive when needed/wanted with more mileage than ever.

may as well ban fuel injection, see how much fuel gets saved. No gas tanks allowed, must be fuel celled, no more than a suingular point of atomizing for all cylinders, see what kind of hoorah gets babbled then...
the truck limiting, it is ridiculous. And the momentum gained faster is a speed achevied realistically faster, and that wequals backing off the throttle. Ashame...the babble just keeps on babbling...without truth.

[duaneb9729]

all these ideas are great for semis in flat land with no hills at all, with ever truck loaded equally.

semis have such a wide range of horse power, transmissions ie: 6,7,8,9,10, 12, 13,15, and 18 speed transmissions. not to mention rear end ratios.

if truck one truck has more hp, more gears or a lower weight load it can climb hills better than a simerly loaded truck with either less horse power or less gears to choose from, having to slow down more before grabbing the next lower gear.

if you drive through IL or IN in the middle of night sometime you will see semis driving about 55 to 60 miles an hour, going up and down the rolling hills of those states, the traffic is aweful if you are trapped in the right lane you are taking your life in your own hands trying to get out in the left lane where folks are going seventy to eighty miles per hour, and then when all this traffic gets to another state it spreads out quite nicely, and in MHOP its safer.

now i do not claim to be any sort of expert, this is just what i noticed from my own personal experiance driving all over the country for the past thirty four years

[Unforgiven]

Hmm, as a professional driver I have to say from my opinion that first --- Traffic cops should enforce the laws already posted. Start with that and a lot of the issues with accidents will be avoided because they will not happen. It is already a law to not tailgate, another law specifies how to pass, another law details lights usage... etc etc etc. There are some "supertruckers" that I shake my head at when I see them speeding and doing reckless things, after all, they are just human animals like the rest of us. Then I see far more 4wheelers (cars and pickups and vans) than far exceed the speed that the truckers do. Unsafe lane changes are the norm with them, not the rule. As far speed goes, its the difference in speed that leads to accidents. (case in point, travelling on ice just a few days ago, going 12 mph due to the very VERY slick conditions, another trucker passed me, going about 20 mph. He wiped out, jackknifing his double while we kept on rolling slowly and smoothly. A mile later, 2 cars wiped out going about the same speed difference, and this was on a straightaway.) When the state legislature finally realizes it and does not bow to special interest groups, then accidents will go down more. Convince the courts to tag speeders with a 500 fine minimum to start will help, repeat offenders (3rd time sounds good) should have the license suspended. But, until the cops start doing the job according to the LAW (example, 55mph sign means go 55mph instead of 70) then there will ALWAYS be accidents.