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SIZE AND WEIGHT

TRUCK SAFETY COALITION FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT

URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON TRUCK SIZE AND WEIGHTS

TRUCK SAFETY COALITION FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT
June 2006

BACKGROUND: On May 3, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on a local road in downtown Bangor, Maine. The trucking industry and Maine state officials are exploiting this tragedy by arguing that the heaviest of trucks wouldn’t travel on local roads if the federal limits on interstate roads were increased. At present, Maine allows 100,000 lbs. GVW trucks on local streets, while federal law sets the maximum weight at 80,000 lbs. GVW on interstate roads. The answer to a tragic crash involving a pedestrian and a tractor-trailer is not to increase weights, but rather to improve enforcement of current truck safety laws.

TRUCKING INDUSTRY’S STRATEGY: The trucking industry is working with Maine government officials to increase truck weights on I-95 to 100,000 lbs.GVW. If they are successful, they will then use this new limit to argue for increasing the limits in neighboring states, then all along the eastern seaboard, and then across the United States.

ISSUE: The Maine trucking industry and state officials are trying to accomplish their strategy by pushing for special interest legislation that would turn over authority to raise truck weight limits to the Federal Highway Administration, a federal agency that has been a strong advocate of longer, heavier trucks. If they are successful, special interest politics and not the safety of families would be the driving force in setting truck weight limits.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Call, email, or fax the following members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and voice your opposition to increasing truck weight limits on Maine Interstate roads and to shifting responsibility for setting truck weight limits from Congress to the Federal Highway Administration.

Sen. James Inhofe Sen. James Jeffords
453 Russell Senate Office Bldg. 413 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4721 202-224-5141
(fax) 202-228-0380 http://jeffords.senate.gov/contact.html
http://inhofe.senate.gov/contactus.htm

Sen. Chris Bond Sen. Max Baucus
274 Russell Senate Office Bldg. 511 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5721 202-224-2651
http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm (fax) 202-224-0515
http://baucus.senate.gov

Rep. Don Young Rep. Jim Oberstar
2111 Rayburn House Office Bldg. 2365 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5765 202-225-6211
(fax) 202-225-0425 (fax) 202-225-0699
http://donyoung.house.gov/ http://oberstar.house.gov/

Rep. Thomas Petri Rep. Peter DeFazio
2462 Rayburn House Office Bldg. 2134 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515
202-225-2476 202-225-6416
(fax) 202-225-2356 http://defazio/house.gov
www.house.gov/petri

TALKING POINTS:
• Truck crash deaths in Maine are dramatically increasing. In 1999, Maine reported 623 fatal and non-fatal truck crashes in the state. By 2003 that number had nearly tripled to 1,705 crashes. Between 2003 and 2004 there was a 50 percent increase in truck crash deaths.

• Maine currently allows 100,000 lbs. GVW trucks on local roads and streets. Officials have stated that they will continue to allow these giant trucks on local streets even if giant, overweight trucks were permitted on the remainder of Maine’s interstate highways. Maine’s government continues to degrade the public’s safety with 100,000 lbs. GVW trucks on township roads. So much for their safety concerns!!!

• The chances of a big truck crash resulting in death and serious injuries increase with each extra ton of weight over the 80,000 lbs. GVW limit in federal law. A big truck weighing even a legal 80,000 lbs. GVW is more then twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a truck weighing about 50,000 lbs. GVW. (University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, 1988).

• Overweight trucks, particularly 100,000 lbs. GVW trucks, dramatically underpay their fair share of taxes and user fees for the repair of U.S. roads and bridges. By damaging roads, large trucks further degrade highway safety. (U.S. DOT, 1997 and 2000).

• Pavement damage is caused almost entirely by heavy trucks, not by passenger cars. One legal 80,000 lbs. GVW tractor-trailer truck does as much damage to road pavement as 9,600 cars. (Highway Research Board, NAS, 1962).

• According to the 2005 Maine Report Card by the American Society of Civil Engineers, 36 percent of Maine’s bridges are already structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

• The Maine DOT 2002 State of the State report states there is an enormous backlog of unmet rehabilitation needs for Maine bridges. An additional $248 million of work must be done over the next 20 years according to the report. Maine taxpayers will be burdened with the cost of excess bridge and road damage by overweight trucks. Allowing overweight trucks on the rest of I-95 in Maine will dramatically increase the rate and the extent of pavement damage.

• The number of trucks on U.S. highways has always grown, even after increases in both the sizes and weights of large trucks.

• Increases in truck size and weight will not reduce the number of trucks on the road, will not decrease the number of trips they make, will not result in fewer miles traveled, and will not improve safety.

• The public doesn’t want bigger trucks. By an 88 percent majority, the American public is opposed to allowing bigger and heavier trucks on the highways. (Lou Harris Poll, 1996).

Bigger Trucks Mean Bigger Safety Problems
Big Rigs Won’t Stop in Maine. Don’t Let Maine Officials and the Trucking Industry Fool You Into Believing They Are Doing This for Your Safety.
Maine Should Obey Federal Weight Limits on All Roads Instead of Trying to Put Dangerous, Illegal and Overweight Trucks on Every Road. Stop Special Interest Legislation Allowing 100,000 lbs. GVW Trucks on All of Maine’s Interstate Highways

For More Information, contact the Truck Safety Coalition, 202-232-4358.