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Safety advocates oppose program allowing heavier trucks Thursday, May 15, 2008 By Sara Spivey Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Officials from insurance and safety groups on Wednesday protested efforts by shipping and trucking industries to establish a test program that would allow larger rigs to carry heavier loads. The trucking industry is advocating a pilot plan that would permit freight trucks to transport an additional 17,000 pounds along roads in Maine, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. Federal law currently limits trucks driving on interstate highways to 80,000 pounds. More than 300,000 tons of freight is driven through Arkansas every day. The state is home to four major trucking companies and 84,000 trucking and distribution employees. Lane Kidd, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, said people must decide whether they want more trucks on the road, or fewer trucks carrying heavier loads. "It's more environmentally safe to haul more freight in each truck," Kidd said. "It saves fuel, cuts pollution and can be done safely." Kidd said he would be in favor of the proposal if it included safety provisions and levied sufficient taxes among all trucks, including those carrying raw materials currently subject to state exemptions. Opponents of the weight increase say larger, heavier trucks are more difficult to control, more dangerous, and will cause more damage to roads and bridges. "If we allow for higher weight limits, our infrastructure will deteriorate even faster than it already is," said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., at a press conference put on by insurance and safety groups. McGovern introduced a bill in the House in October that would extend truck weight and length limits to the entire national highway system regardless of individual state laws. He said he hopes to include the legislation in a federal highway bill likely to be considered by Congress next year. "Heavier, longer trucks put out more emissions, more congestion on roadways and more fatalities," McGovern said. Trucking accidents kill 5,000 people per year and injure another 100,000. Jane Mathis, a mother from St. Augustine, Fla., who lost her 23-year-old son David and his wife of five days, Mary Kathryn, in a trucking accident, tearfully advocated against allowing trucks to haul more cargo. "Our government should be coming up with ways to protect motorists, not considering action that will endanger more of us," Mathis said. Kidd said the trucking industry is not clamoring to increase truck weights, but that it would be one way to deal with increasing fuel prices, environmental concerns and lack of infrastructure funding. "Allow trucks to haul more and pay more," he said. He said a truck carrying 97,000 pounds would not cause more damage to roads. A heavier truck would need an extra axle and four more wheels, which would evenly distribute the weight and cause no additional wear-and-tear on highways than trucks carrying 80,000 pounds, Kidd said. Jake Jacoby, executive director of Americans for Safe and Efficient Transportation, a trucking advocacy group, said increasing truck weight would decrease the number of trucks on the road and drive time, making the roads more safe. Jacoby said the trucking industry is working with each state being considered for the pilot program to determine which roads would be fit to test. They are finding support from at least two members of Congress, Jacoby said, naming Reps. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, and Henry Brown, Jr., R-S.C., as allies. |
