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Sad, but true. My freshman year of law school, 1981, we were told that California and New York case law would provide the backdrop for most of the legal concepts we would be exploring, as those jurisdictions were always on the developing fringe.Remember California is the window to the country's future.
The owner/operator segment of the trucking industry has been fighting these things ever since electronic engine controls arrived on the scene. When I was on the other side of desk, as in house counsel for a large carrier, I supported a limit of 67 mph in the company trucks, but never tried to limit owner/operator speeds. Their safety record was always better, better quality drivers. With the company trucks, I set equipment up for the lowest common denominator, the idiots ruined things for the better operators.
My own Peterbilt 379, that I drove the last 16 years of my career, had no governor, and a theoretical 127 mph top speed. I was always being passed by company drivers with 72 mph speed governors. Guys in the shop used to laugh when they heard these idiots bragging about passing the "big truck," pointing out that unlike them, I was paying for fuel. The highest top speed I ever hit was 80 mph, building momentum for the next hill. Hard to explain to people who haven't a big truck, that this is how you get optimum fuel economy.
Lack of common sense by idiots driving vehicles has been driving the "safety first" trend my entire adult life. Technology has just made it easier implement restrictive stuff across the board. In the old days before seat belts and air bags, natural selection killed a lot of them off early in the game. Now that they live longer, and create a societal motivation for electronic limits.
The highest top speed I ever hit was 80 mph, building momentum for the next hill
Dumb and scary bill, but for maybe the first time in his career, Newsom did something right when he vetoed it.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes bill requiring speeding alerts in new cars
No, I was still driving a desk at headquarters that year, but I have some likely suspects. At the small carrier where I started and finished my career, partner who ordered the trucks started specifying 15 speed overdrive transmissions. The goal was to increase fuel economy, enabling significantly lower rpms at cruising speed than the previous trucks, which were screaming at 65 mph. Potential top speed was now 85 mph. I soon had a conversation with Don about the results. "Three of them f'ers passed me doing 85 in a 55, and the fuel mileage is in the sh****tr!" The first batch of new trucks with electronic engines got speed limiters.Was that you behind me on southbound I-81 in Pennsylvania back around 1999?
I had been checking my mirror for several miles and a trucker was steadily closing the very large gap between us. I was already going above the posted speed limit, but I sped up some more. At one point I was going +85 mph on a long, steep uphill grade and the trucker was still closing the gap. He passed me at the top of the grade and I backed off. He kept up his pace...I never saw him again!
No traffic.
I think civilians are a product of northern migration. My executive experience with a nationwide carrier convinced me that native southern truck drivers are true gentlemen.I must remark the tractor trailer drivers in and around Savannah, Georgia are at least ten times better than the drivers of pick-up trucks, SUV's, and cars. This was not the case 10 years ago.
Even the logging truck and dump truck drivers are better than our typical knucklehead civilian drivers.