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HEAVIER TRUCKS DEBATE * USA - Teamsters Oppose
Hoffa: Bush Administration Wants To Turn Big Rigs Into Time Bombs
Washington,DC,USA - MarketWatch (CAL,USA) -July 9, 2008: -- The Teamsters oppose the Bush administration plan to relax restrictions on truck size and weight, union General President Jim Hoffa said Wednesday... The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing a pilot program along the border states to allow larger trucks to operate on U.S. interstates... "Bigger trucks are more dangerous trucks," Hoffa said. "Lifting truck weight and size limits would turn big rigs into time bombs."... The Bush administration has consistently worked to undermine highway safety, Hoffa said. "Bush has opened the border to dangerous trucks from Mexico and allowed truck drivers to spend more time behind the wheel," he said. "Further weakening safety rules is the last thing our drivers need right now."... Teamster truck driver Vince Brezinsky has been driving long-haul trucks for 31 years. Brezinsky, of Dallas, testified Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit about the dangers of allowing bigger, heavier trucks on the road... Bigger trucks take longer to stop, are harder to get up to highway speed in merge lanes and are too long to make tight turns... Further, Brezinsky said, "our current highway system is not built for longer and heavier trucks."... It takes 9,600 cars to cause the same road damage caused by a fully loaded 80,000-pound truck, he said, citing a road test conducted by the American Association of State Highway Officials... Finally, he said, heavier trucks aren't fuel efficient. "As a truck gets heavier, more fuel is used," Brezinksysaid...
* YRC seeks higher truck weight limits - Executive tells Congress it would reduce traffic, emissions and fuel use
Washington,DC,USA -Bloomberg News/Ohio.com -Jul 10, 2008: -- Allowing states to raise commercial-truck weight limits by 21 percent would save fuel and reduce traffic and emissions, boosting profits for freight haulers... Mike Smid, president of YRC Worldwide Inc.'s North American Transportation, gave the testimony on behalf of YRC, the parent corporation of Akron-based Roadway, and the American Trucking Associations, an Arlington, Va., trade group pressing for the changes so truckers can ship more cargo in fewer trips... Proponents of heavier and longer rigs on U.S. roads have to convince skeptics including House transportation committee Chairman James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat... Bigger trucks are ''far more difficult to maneuver safely,'' Oberstar said at the hearing. Such trucks require greater stopping distances, don't handle as well on highway ramps designed for smaller vehicles and can't keep up with traffic going uphill, Oberstar said... The U.S., with some exceptions, prohibits commercial trucks of more than 80,000 pounds on federal highways. Smid said that should be raised to 97,000 pounds. Congress in 1991 froze limits on so-called longer-combination vehicles, which include those with three trailers and some with double trailers... Consumer advocates Public Citizen said weight increases would make the vehicles more difficult to drive and put more wear and tear on roads... Railroads, which compete with trucks for some freight, also oppose bigger trucks... Overland Park, Kan.-based YRC is the nation's largest trucker by sales...
* Activist spotlights truck bill - Congress told state rushing to ease tractor-trailer rules
NC,USA -The News & Observer, by Bruce Siceloff -10 July 2008: -- North Carolina can expect more deadly truck crashes and more damage to roads and bridges if the General Assembly allows longer tractor-trailers on the state's highways, a national safety advocate told a congressional subcommittee Wednesday... Gerald A. Donaldson of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety spotlighted North Carolina in testimony at a Washington hearing on efforts across the country to relax limits on truck lengths and weights. He said the North Carolina legislature is rushing action on a bill to let truckers pull 53-foot semi-trailers on most roads. Forty-eight feet is the current limit, except on interstates and other major highways... Citing a recent N.C. State University study, Donaldson said the longer trucks would make crashes more likely on narrow, two-lane roads... Other studies and an investigative series in The News & Observer have shown that big trucks are speeding up the deterioration of North Carolina roads and bridges, Donaldson told members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's highway subcommittee. He said the state is not keeping up with growing repair needs...
* OOIDA again battles push for longer, heavier trucks
Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Jami Jones -July 9, 2008: ... The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association was there laying out the numerous reasons that longer and heavier trucks are not a good idea... Testifying on behalf of OOIDA was senior member Bill Farrell, the owner of Bill Farrell LLC based in Missoula, MT... “Truckers such as OOIDA members know from firsthand experience that further increases in sizes and weights of commercial motor vehicles can endanger highway users and hasten the deterioration of our nation’s roads and bridges,” Farrell told committee members. “As such, OOIDA has long been an opponent of increases to federal truck size or weight standards"... Farrell was quick to debunk arguments used by advocates to push for the longer and heavier trucks... Farrell drove home the negative impact the proposal would have on safety by reminding subcommittee members that driving a truck isn’t an easy job... Another argument used to promote longer and heavier trucks is that they will reduce the overall number of trucks on the road. Farrell told committee members that just isn’t so, especially given the aging nature of the nation’s infrastructure... He told lawmakers that increasing truck size and weight would accelerate the deterioration of the nation’s highways and bridges. Many routes, as well as pickup and delivery points, would become totally inaccessible without substantial, costly upgrades to accommodate larger or heavier vehicles – requiring money from a cash-strapped Highway Trust Fund... Farrell said that the end result would be longer and heavier trucks forced to stick to roads capable of handling the weight, simply creating more congestion on those limited routes... Rather than make trucks longer and heavier, Farrell encouraged members of the committee to address the real needs of the trucking industry and highway users...
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