Executive Director Thomas M. Hodgson | Headquarters Atlanta | |
Profiles | ||
Road Safe America is an American non-profit organization promoting road safety. It was founded by the parents of Cullum Owings, who died after his car was struck by a speeding truck on December 1, 2002.
A New York Times article, dated November 27, 2005, discusses Steve and Susan Owings' attempts to have speed governors mandated for use on large trucks. All trucks manufactured since 1992 have the governors installed as standard equipment and it is the argument of Road Safe America that these governors should be set at 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) for all trucks. Road Safe America has been joined by the American Trucking Associations, insurance companies and numerous national carriers in petitioning the Department of Transportation for a regulation mandating the use of these speed limiters.
In the article, Mike Russel, a spokesman for American Trucking Associations (ATA), is quoted saying that the ATA supports a national speed limit of 65 mph for all vehicles. Russell goes on to state that forcing trucks to drive slower than other traffic increases the accident rate. In 1991, speed limiters were considered and rejected by Congress. Despite claims that speed limiters would increase accident rates, Road Safe America petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require manufacturers to install speed limiters on all trucks over 26,000 pounds (12,000 kg) GVW, to limit their speeds to 68 mph.
These petitions were protested by the Owner Operators and Independent Drivers Association, citing the past dangers found in studies, and claiming the intent of the petition was to stop ATA drivers from going to companies that allowed their trucks to run the speed limit. Many trucking publications, including The Trucker and Road Star, featured articles on the issue. Articles in The Trucker mentioned additional studies finding that split speeds increased fatigue, and editorials in Road Star questioned ATA's motives. NHTSA published a request for comments on an online petition. While the request listed 9 specific questions NHTSA sought information on, some responders ignored those questions, allegedly because Road Safe America used faxes http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf100/456656_web.pdf and their website Roadsafeamerica.org to link hundreds of supporters directly to the comment page without reading the request for comments.