Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, May 27, 2025:
North Dakota bumps highway speed limits, fines
North Dakota voted to raise the speed limit to 80 mph on select multi-lane highways effective Aug. 1, becoming the ninth state in the country to do so.
Speed limits have been left up to states since 1995. A similar bill passed in the state in 2023 but was vetoed by then-Gov. Doug Burgum.
Higher posted limits also means speeding violations will come with higher fines, according to the new law: $20 or $5 for every mile per hour over the limit, whichever is greater, for highways with a posted speed limit of 65 mph, and a $20 fine for speeding, or $3 for every mile per hour over the limit, whichever is greater, for slower speed zones.
Motorists traveling more than 16 mph over the limit will see $20 more tacked onto the fine, and speeding in a construction zone with workers gets a $150 add-on.
Isuzu recalling electric NRR trucks
Isuzu Motors Limited is recalling 73 model year 2025 NRR-EV vehicles over concern that a gap between the bus bar and connection terminal may cause the system to overheat and turn off the drive motor.
Isuzu said it discovered the problem during long-term durability testing, adding the sub-junction box used to transfer current to the EV drive motor had failed in a test vehicle at the bus bar to connector attachment bolt. Isuzu’s investigation revealed that, as a result of a design flaw in the sub-junction box, an improper gap between the connector and the bus bar caused loosening of the bolt fastening the bus bar to the connector terminal, resulting in increased resistance of the current flow.
This resistance will result in increased heat and may activate one or more DTCs. One of these DTCs will illuminate a warning to the driver and turn off current running to the EV drive motor. The driver will experience loss of motive power.
