User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: SAFETY ROADS * USA: Truckers want slower speeds on Texas highways
Google
 
Loading

Apr 25, 2015

SAFETY ROADS * USA: Truckers want slower speeds on Texas highways

* Texas - Safety is the greatest priority in trucking. Some stretches highways have maximum posted speeds of 80 mph

--  Our companies and drivers make a living traveling the same roads that our loved ones share. I cannot think of a better reason to do more to reduce speed on our highways... New trucks have this capability, and nearly 70 percent of trucks on the road already have limits set well below 70 mph. In order to further improve highway safety for all of us... We know speed is already a leading factor in fatal crashes on Texas highways, causing 26,691 accidents resulting in 785 fatalities in 2013 alone — contributing to more than 23 percent of Texas fatalities and nearly 30 percent of the nation’s total... And of all the fatalities in Texas during the past five years, trucks were involved in about 14 percent and found at fault less than 4 percent of the time. That’s approximately 135 fatalities out of 3,377 Texas fatalities in 2013... As a bonus, we know slower speeds save fuel. Even as prices at the pump drop, we are all conscious of how much fuel we burn. A truck traveling at 65 mph burns 27 percent less fuel than one going 70 mph. According to one study, a truck’s fuel economy increases by more than a mile per gallon if its speed is cut by 10 mph. Trucks today, while burning much cleaner than the past, still only realize 5-7 miles per gallon... Studies show that the greater the difference in speed between vehicles, the more dangerous their encounters on the highway can be. This is one of the reasons law enforcement officers will stop a vehicle for going too slow on the interstate. When the speeds in which vehicles overtake each other are too far apart, the outcome can be very undesirable... Slowing down traffic simply saves lives. It saves fuel. It saves money in the form of reduced congestion, reduced accidents and insurance costs... It's time for the U.S. Department of Transportation to act... 
(RICK SCIBELLI GETTY IMAGES - Some stretches of highways in Texas have maximum posted speeds of 80 mph)   -- TXS, USA - The STAR-TELEGRAM, by JOHN D. ESPARZA - 22 April 2015

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:24 AM 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home