# Plain Language Summary: Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act of 2021

This bill would require all large commercial trucks to have technology that prevents them from driving faster than 65 miles per hour, or 70 miles per hour if they have certain advanced safety features like automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control. The bill applies to trucks weighing 26,001 pounds or more that operate across state lines—basically the big rigs you see on highways. The Department of Transportation would have one year to create the official rules and standards for this technology, and truck manufacturers would need to install these speed limiters on all new trucks they make after the rules take effect.

The bill also requires that any trucks already on the road that were manufactured after 1992 and already have speed-limiting technology installed must use it while driving. So if a truck has this technology but a driver has disabled it or isn't using it, they would be required to turn it on. The bill includes research showing that trucks without speed limiters crash at nearly twice the rate of trucks with them, and notes that other countries like Australia, the UK, and European nations have already required this technology for decades.

The practical effect would be that large trucks would be capped at these speeds automatically—drivers wouldn't be able to go faster even if they wanted to. This is intended to reduce accidents involving big trucks, which can be particularly dangerous because of their size and weight. The bill also requires the Transportation Department to review these speed regulations every five years to see if new safety technologies should allow for adjustments, and to report back to Congress with any recommendations.

Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act of 2021

McBath, Lucy

Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act of 2021 This bill directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to implement regulations to require (1) all new commercial motor vehicles with a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more to be equipped with speed-limiting technology; (2) any existing speed-limiting technology already installed in such vehicles manufactured after December 31, 1992, to be used while in operation; and (3) the speed-limiting technology to be set to a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour, or 70 miles per hour with the use of adaptive cruise control systems and automatic emergency braking systems. The NHTSA must also prescribe performance standards for speed-limiting technologies, automatic braking systems, and adaptive cruise control systems that reduce or mitigate collisions at speeds of not faster than 70 miles per hour.