OOIDA to challenge Ontario speed limiter mandate

Ontario’s Bill 41, as designed and backed by the Ontario Trucking Association, mandates a 65 mph speed limit to be the “hard coded” setting on trucks traveling in that province, regardless the registration. The plan was initially submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation in November 2005. The legislature passed it June 16.

The Trucker Staff

7/9/2008

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — In response to the Ontario government’s decision to pass a speed limiter bill, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will file a formal Notice of Intent challenging the legality of the legislation, the trucker organization said Tuesday.

The notice will be filed as soon as the new law, which will require heavy trucks operating in the province to be speed limited, is officially implemented.

“We are vigorously pursuing all appropriate legal remedies to protect the right of truckers, big and small, to compete fairly and safely across international and provincial borders,” said Rick Craig, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs.

The association said it has retained legal counsel in Canada and obtained advice regarding potential grounds to challenge the legislation.

“We did this as soon as it became apparent the government had no intention of seriously considering reason and sound science in the debate. We have established the basis for those challenges,” said Craig.

OOIDA contends this new law would cause an impediment to interprovincial and international trade by restricting access to trucks from other jurisdictions that do not have mandated speed limiting restrictions. OOIDA said it has identified possible North American Free Trade Agreement and constitutional violations.

“We believe the new law discriminates against U.S.-based companies as well as Canadian trucking companies based outside of Ontario by restricting their ability to operate freely throughout Canada,” added Craig.

Officials from OOIDA as well as technical experts and truckers from Ontario and the U.S. testified at a committee hearing in opposition to Bill 41, to no avail, prompting the need to pursue the legal path, according to OOIDA.

“The reasons given by proponents for passing the bill were nothing more than a red herring and will infringe upon the rights of all extraprovincial truckers who want to pursue their livelihoods to operate throughout Canada,” stated Craig. “We, on the other hand, made bullet-proof arguments addressing the safety, environmental and trade implications of speed limiter legislation. OOIDA has always known the initiative was never about safety or environment, but instead about limiting extraprovincial competition in favor of big business trucking interests in Ontario.”

“Speed limiters are an effective way for the trucking industry to further contribute to safer highways and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fuel savings from speed limiters will also help to moderate the increases in operating costs from escalating diesel fuel prices,” said OTA president David Bradley when the bill passed.

Speaking at an earlier hearing on the matter, Bradley said that while truckers are the safest drivers on the highways, “we also know that some do speed and drive aggressively or are forced to by unscrupulous carriers and shippers; that voluntary measures have failed to be embraced by all operators; and that as an industry that shares its workplace with the public we have – as safety professionals – an added responsibility to do the right thing.”

Of opponents’ suggestion that the speed limiter mandate is unfair to truckers from outside of Ontario, Bradley said “there are no NAFTA issues here. There is no discrimination. Trade will not be impaired.”

“We are confident that one day we will be able to look back on this time and know it was because of the leadership shown here in Ontario that the rest of North America will eventually embrace this measure as well,” Bradley said.