Colonel Paul McClellan
Superintendent
Ohio State Highway Patrol

Since the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s inception, highway safety and the safety of motorists have been our number one concern. Current bills, such as House Bill 186, in the Ohio Legislature could place our highway safety at risk. This proposed bill would raise the interstate speed limit for trucks to 65 miles per hour and would raise truck speed limits in Ohio to a historic high.

The Patrol opposes this legislation based on the rise in fatalities in states with higher truck speed limits, an increase in traffic on Ohio’s roadways, and the inherent safety risks facing Ohio’s motorists.

Currently, the maximum speed limit is 65-mph for passenger vehicles and 55-mph for commercial trucks on Ohio’s roadways. There is no statistical evidence that the current speed limit for trucks in Ohio is unsafe. The speed limit in Ohio has never been set at 65-mph for trucks, even 30 years ago when truck volumes were a fraction of what they are today.

Last year in Ohio, 74 percent of citations issued by the Patrol on rural interstates to truck drivers were for violations of 66-mph and above, while 2,500 violations were for 75-mph or more.

Nationally, the percentage of trucks involved in fatal crashes increased from 7.9 percent to 8.5 percent over the first five years after the national maximum speed limit was lifted in 1996. Thirty-three states that have raised truck speed limits experienced an increase in fatal crashes involving large trucks.

Ohio, Michigan, and Oregon, three states that have maintained the 55-mph speed limit for trucks, have documented decreases in fatal truck crashes during that same time period. In Ohio, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes fell 20 percent from 201 in 1995 to 161 in 2001.

The safety issue of truck speed is simply a matter of physics. Lower speed limits for trucks are necessary to make the stopping distance of heavy vehicles closer to that of lighter vehicles. Because large trucks require longer stopping distances than cars, there is no disputing the laws of physics that equate faster speeds with greater damage.

With Ohio’s current 55-mph truck speed limit, the stopping distance for a truck is already greater than a football field. If the truck speed limit was raised to 65-mph, the stopping distance for a truck would be 420 feet, 99 feet further than at 55-mph.

A vehicle’s stopping distance also has a crucial effect in car crashes. A longer stopping distance reduces the driver’s ability to avoid a crash and increases the impact intensity, resulting in more serious injuries and fatalities.

Truck speed concerns everyone on Ohio’s highways. There are many advantages to Ohio’s current speed limit. Lower truck speeds allow automobile drivers to pass trucks with more ease. Many trucks will continue to operate at 55-mph even if speed limits were increased because of better fuel efficiency, lower operating costs, company policy, Ohio terrain, and Ohio’s congested roads.

The Patrol continually strives to reduce the number of crashes on Ohio highways. Please join us by supporting the current speed limits to keep Ohio roadways a safe place to travel for all motorists.

It’s about safety.