Be Part of the Ultimate Safety & Compliance Community
Trending news, knowledge-building content, and more – all personalized to you!
Drivers are required to follow the posted speed limits at all times. A motor carrier may not schedule, permit, or require a run that would require the driver to travel at speeds greater than those prescribed by the jurisdictions in or through which the commercial motor vehicle is being operated.
This requirement applies to both the motor carrier and its drivers.
Commercial vehicle drivers, like all other drivers, are prohibited from exceeding posted speed limits. A driver who exceeds the limit can get a speeding ticket and fine, but the motor carrier may also be penalized for allowing the speeding to take place.
During an audit, enforcement personnel can compare a driver’s hours-of-service records against the speed limits along the traveled route and use guidelines from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to determine if the driver was speeding. Those guidelines assume that drivers average at least 10 mph below the average speed limit over a 10-hour period of time (due to scheduled stops, breaks, etc.). Therefore, for example: