The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted a 30-day extension for public comments on the latest rule on speed-limiting devices.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a requirement that all newly manufactured trucks, buses and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds be equipped with speed-limiting devices.
As reported in August, NHTSA has not specified the exact limits, but the agency said it is weighing the benefits and disadvantages of setting speeds at 60, 65 or 68 mph.
According to NHTSA, the rule could save between 27 and 498 lives a year, depending on the speed limit set, adding that requiring speed limiters on heavy vehicles could also save an estimated $1 billion in fuel costs each year.
Nearly 58 percent of 250 School Transportation News readers who responded to an August survey said their school buses use this device. While almost half believed that speed limiters should be required for school buses as an added safety measure, 46 percent thought otherwise.
Among the remaining respondents, though, felt that the speed limiters should be used on a district-by-district basis and only when school bus drivers have been seen speeding or convicted of the offense.
The new public comment deadline now runs to Dec. 7. NHTSA said this extension should provide all interested parties sufficient opportunity to fully develop and submit comments and evidentiary materials on the subject.
