Rep. Brecheen Attempts To Block Proposed Speed Regulations For Semis

The newest member of Oklahoma's congressional delegation is attempting to block a proposed federal safety regulation on interstate trucking, saying it would negatively impact industry and end up making roads less safe, not more.

Rep. Josh Brecheeen (R-OK2) and certainly most of his Republican colleagues, generally, take a dim view of federal agencies making decisions that they believe individual states should be making -- such as, how fast heavy trucks should be allowed to travel on the interstate.

"This has historically been left up to the states," said Rep. Brecheen in an interview last week.

In fact, there are currently eight states that have a lower speed limit for trucks than for cars. Oklahoma is not one of them.

However, citing concerns with the number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes and fatalities at high speeds (884 in 2019), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has started the process of imposing a lower speed limit for trucks nationwide.

The rule FMCSA is looking to finalize would require trucks that are engaged in interstate commerce and weigh more than 26,000 pounds (an empty 18-wheeler weighs about 35,000 pounds) to be outfitted with an electronic engine control unit (ECU) to prevent it traveling faster than a designated speed. The speed limit has yet to be selected.

"This is one more area where the federal government -- bureaucrat, not elected officials -- [is] trying to make a decision that is a perversion of state authority," Rep. Brecheen stated.

Congressman Brecheen knows his way around heavy trucks. He grew up, he said, in the cutting horse industry, driving show rigs and hauling equipment to and from his family's John Deere dealerships. His own business, Rawhide Dirtworks, required more hauling and dumping.

He said forcing truckers to drive more slowly than the flow of the other vehicles will lead to impatient motorists making bad decisions to pass or cause them to get caught off guard.

"They come up over (a rise), and they're not paying attention, and they rear end," Brecheen said, "and you're talking about a massive amount of steel."

Brecheen introduced legislation earlier this month -- the Deregulating Restrictions on Interstate Vehicles and Eighteen-Wheelers (DRIVE) Act -- to stop FMCSA from imposing the new rule and reject what he calls a "one-size-fits-all approach that is imposed by a bureaucrat sitting in a cubicle versus state lawmakers who make these decisions."

The legislation has been endorsed by farming and livestock groups, as well as by trucking associations. If it does pass in the House, it would face a very steep uphill battle in the Senate.