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OPINION * USA - DOT needs to rethink truck route restraints
Truckers and their trucks, are the link from business to consumer, and the people who operate these trucks often do their work on days when we’re relaxing and at times when we’re sleeping
Rochester ,NY,USA -MPN Now/Daily Messenger -Nov 9, 2009: -- It’s easy to take a dislike to tractor-trailer trucks. They’re noisy and smelly and block our views, and they spew salty road spray on our windshields in the winter. But they serve a vital role in commerce, moving goods to the stores we shop at every day, carrying anything from milk and meat to TVs and toys... That’s why it seems so unreasonable for the state Department of Transportation to consider ways to make their already-difficult jobs more problematic... The latest attempt: A proposal to restrict truck traffic on rural roads, developed largely after complaints that truckers are taking back-road shortcuts while hauling garbage to regional landfills... The DOT wants to force truck drivers to use interstate highways instead of more direct routes, and would ban large trucks — defined as 45 feet in length or longer — from seven state highways, including Route 96... Now, if it were only garbage haulers affected by such a regulation, it would be one thing. They comprise only a fraction of the state’s truck traffic. But many business owners, particularly in the farming industry, which by definition operates largely in rural areas, say such rules could be crippling to their bottom lines... The DOT will say they don’t control the Thruway Authority, and they’d be right. But they should, and it’s time for our state government, larded up with authorities that appear responsive and responsible to no one, to scrap at least some of these quasi-government agencies... Beyond that, at a time when businesses, particularly in our highly taxed state, are struggling to survive, much less be profitable, we shouldn’t be adding even more regulations that will drive up transportation costs and will mean higher prices for businesses and ordinary folk... As Kendra Adams of the New York Motor Truck Association said, “All of the businesses across the state rely on the trucking industry in some way or another”... Truckers are an integral part of a business operation. When their costs go up, so does the cost of goods and services at a time when state businesses and residents can least afford them... (Photo from workingshowtrucksusa: Gallery)
Labels: trucking industry opinions
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