A Nevada state assemblyman wants to reduce highway speed limits for trucks in his home state.

According to the Associated Press, State Assemblyman John Carpenter is proposing a bill to lower the speed limit for large trucks traveling state highways to 65 mph, while leaving the speed limit for other vehicles at 75 mph.
Carpenter told the AP that on a recent trip through Idaho, which has split speed limits, he noticed fewer large trucks fighting for position on the highway, and that most of the rigs stayed in the right lane, allowing traffic to flow more smoothly.
Richard Retting of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says it's not certain that lower speed limits for trucks make roads safer, although there are many apparent reasons for such a move. Those reasons include the longer stopping distances required for large trucks and high fatality rates for occupants of other vehicles in crashes with trucks.
Some experts say that differences in speed among vehicles on the same roadway, regardless of the vehicles involved, are inherently dangerous. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association often lobbies state legislatures against split speed limits. "Lower speed limits for trucks are simply a feel-good answer to the public's fear and lack of understanding regarding trucks that has the opposite effect on highway safety than the one intended," says one article on their web site.
Toby Rickman, traffic engineer for the state of Washington, says that, from a pure engineering point of view, any time you have different speeds, it's disruptive.
Retting said speed studies show that trucks, as a group, move slower, but whatever the outcome, thinks Nevada will be served by examining its speed limits.

John Carpenter's e-mail: jcarpenter@asm.state.nv.us