The Great Divide…in the trucking industry you’ve got the big boys and you’ve got the little guys.
The big boys would love to have a larger market share and so they support regulations that are potentially expensive because every little fish that can’t stay ahead of the big fish gets eaten.
The little guys, conversely, don’t trust the big boys. The little guys frequently have better, safer drivers and make more money per driver. And of course the big boys get jealous of those larger profit margins. Neither party is able to see their own advantages– forgive the cliché – they see greener grass in their neighbor’s yard.
And when the verbal sparring goes too far they run to their daddies; their senators and representatives. The big boys lobby and spend money and explain why and how such and such is a good idea that will make the roads safer…the little guys write letters explaining the law of unintended consequences and the law of diminishing returns and how that same proposal will actually have the opposite effect.
So are speed limiters a good idea? I’ll be honest, I don’t know. I can certainly see the logic on both sides of the argument. Should congress get involved? My take on that is when an industry has a chance to self-regulate, it should always do-so. Getting the government to “solve” regulation problems is beginning at a losing location. Non-industry people will write the law in such a way that will have adverse effects.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Thanks for reading.