Trucking Industry Opposes McGovern Bill That Would Limit Truck Size
TRUCKS
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sarah Gantz
Boston University Washington News Service
04/02/09
WASHINGTON – As the trucking industry seeks to loosen weight regulations for trucks traveling on the nation’s highways, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Worcester) and U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce legislation that would cap truck weight and size. They say limits are necessary to minimize road damage and decrease truck-involved traffic fatalities.
Truckers are pushing to increase the weight limit from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds. The move could reduce truck carbon emissions by as much as 17 percent, according to Clayton W. Boyce, a spokesman for American Trucking Associations, by carrying heavier loads in fewer vehicles.
But lawmakers argue that heavier trucks will only exacerbate the problem of crumbling infrastructure and pose a greater risk to drivers. They argue that limiting truck weight will result in fewer accidents because, they say, heavier trucks take longer to stop.
“We’re not going to be able to go backwards on this, but what we can do is stop where we are so it doesn’t get worse,” Mr. McGovern said.
More than 200 of the 1,446 truck crashes (fatal and nonfatal) in Massachusetts occurred in Worcester County, more than every other county except Middlesex, in 2007, the most recent year for which records are available, according to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The safety administration recorded 26 fatal accidents in Massachusetts involving large trucks in 2007, four of which occurred in Worcester County.
“Generally, tractor-trailer accidents involve fatalities,” said Sgt. James Machado of the Fall River police department, who is the executive director of the Massachusetts Police Association. “Even when they’re involved with nothing but guardrails.”
In two-vehicle crashes involving a passenger car and a large truck, 97 percent of the fatalities were occupants of the passenger vehicle, according to a 2007 study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
On March 20, an 88-year-old Marlboro woman was killed and her husband injured when their car collided with a tractor-trailer on Route 20 in Northboro.
“It’s not only a matter of public safety,” Mr. Machado said. “It’s also a matter of making sure we’re not doing anything counterproductive to the amount of money we’re putting into fixing infrastructure.”
In Massachusetts, the problem is twofold, Mr. McGovern said. Massachusetts roads are infamously in need of repair—“We have bridges that are older than most states in this country,” the congressman pointed out—which is why, he said, it is imperative to preserve them as much as possible by limiting the damage done by heavy trucks.
Gov. Deval Patrick has committed $600 million to repair roads and bridges this year. An additional $3 billion has been put aside for a program that would repair or replace as many as 300 of the commonwealth’s 532 structurally deficient bridges over the next eight years.
Massachusetts received an additional $437.9 million from the new federal stimulus law to spend on federal highway projects.
A number of factors contribute to road deterioration, including weather, chemicals, traffic—and weight of the vehicles, according to Adam Hurtubise, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation in Massachusetts.
“The higher the traffic volume and the heavier the vehicle, the more quickly the roadway tends to deteriorate,” Mr. Hurtubise said.
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