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Greetings!
VICTORY ON STOPPING AYOTTE HOS AMENDMENT!
ACTION NEEDED TO STOP ME/VT PERMANENT EXEMPTION
October 28, 2011
UPDATE:
Thank you for all of your calls and emails to Sen. Ayotte's office -- because of your efforts she did not offer the amendment which would have stopped the DOT from moving forward with the proposed changes to the Hours of Service rulemaking. We expect the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to send the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Business (OMB) for their review soon.
Meanwhile we continue to work toward stopping a permanent weight exemption for Maine and Vermont. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Monday at 4pm EST to pass the "Minibus" (small Omnibus) Appropriations FY12 bill which will includes Transportation allocations and also includes a permanent exemption for Maine and Vermont. The bill will then be sent back to the House, and the House and Senate will have a "Conference Committee" to work out the differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed bills. We need to make sure this exemption does not get included in the final Minibus bill. If Maine and Vermont are given exemptions, their neighboring states will be next in line to claim they are at an unfair competitive business disadvantage, and this exemption will spread from state to state until the whole country has an 100,000 lb. limit.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
Please call these Members of Congress and ask them to oppose any attempts to give Maine and Vermont special exemptions to federal truck weight limits. Urge them to pass a "clean" transportation appropriations bill without any anti-safety policy issues slipped in through the backdoor.
Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, 202-225-4601. If you live in KY, you can email to https://halrogersforms.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm
Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, 202-225-5916. If you are a constituent, you can email to http://www.house.gov/dicks/newemail.shtml?legislation
Congressman Tom Lathan (R-IA), Chairman of the House Transportation, HUD, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, 202-225-5476. If you are a constituent, you can email to http://latham.house.gov/Contact/
Congressman John Olver (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Transportation, HUD, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, 202-225-5335. If you live in MA, you can email to
https://olverforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/default.aspx Please also thank Congressman Olver for his past and ongoing support for keeping current weight limits.
TALKING POINTS: If sending an email, you can cut and paste these bullet points into an email:
- The one-year Maine and Vermont Pilot Programs resulted in more trucks, more deaths and more infrastructure damage.
- In Vermont the commercial motor vehicle fatal crash rate tripled and the change in permits for 99,000 lb. 6-axle trucks more than doubled from 1,500 to over 3,000.
- Trucking interests claimed that allowing heavier trucks on Interstates would get them off local roads, but this did not happen. According to a Report from Vermont, "Because the decrease in VMT (vehicle miles traveled) on the non-Interstates was relatively small (1.5%), the pilot might have provided only limited relief to some communities that complained of heavy trucks using their local thoroughfares, passing close to schools and town centers."
- In Maine the number of fatalities in 6-axle large truck crashes almost doubled (4 to 7 deaths). During the 5 years before the pilot project (2005-2009), there were 0 fatalities on local roads and 0 fatalities on Non-Turnpike Interstates involving 6-axle large truck crashes. During the 1-year pilot project, there were 3 fatalities on local roads and 2 on Non-Turnpike Interstates involving 6-axle large truck crashes.
- The chances of a large 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.
- Heavier trucks take longer to stop and roll over more frequently.
- Overly heavy trucks, particularly 100,000 lbs. trucks, dramatically underpay their fair share of taxes and user fees for the repair of U.S. roads and bridges. States and Congress are already struggling to find funds to address the backlog of road and bridge needs across the country.
- Even before the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) reported that 36% of Maine's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and 29% of its major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. Similarly, 39% of Vermont's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and 40% of its major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. These are some of the worst in the country.
Heavier Trucks Mean Bigger Safety Problems
For More Information, contact the Truck Safety Coalition, 703-294-6404
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