05/16/08

TITLE: Lautenberg, McCaskill Introduce Legislation To Keep Dangerously Heavy and Large Trucks Off America's Roads
DESCRIPTION:
Time: 07:02:31

ARTICLE

Today, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced a bill to keep dangerously heavy and large truck off the nation’s roads.  The Senators’ bill would keep the current limit of 80,000 pounds for tractor trailer trucks on Interstate highways in place and establish a maximum length of 53 feet for trucks, both of which will improve safety and prevent excessive strain on the nation’s roads, tunnels and bridges.

    “Last year’s tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis demonstrated how fragile our already-deficient bridges and roads are, and we should not be putting even heavier trucks on them.  But that is exactly what some trucking company interests are proposing-- even bigger and heavier trucks on our roads.  If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this is it,” Senator Frank R. Lautenberg said.  “Our bill would protect our infrastructure and improve safety on our roads by helping keep dangerously large and heavy tractor-trailer trucks off of them.”
               
    “It defies common sense to let big trucks become super-giant trucks. Missouri drivers are already stressed by the presence of so many big trucks,” McCaskill said. “There are safety considerations along with the reality of increased fuel costs that require us to say no to even bigger commercial trucks on our roads.”

    The bill being reintroduced today would extend the current weight limit and freeze on triple-trailers to the entire 160,000-mile National Highway System (NHS), while still allowing exemptions, including for firefighting equipment.  The NHS includes both Interstate highways and smaller national highways, and is critical to the nation’s economy, defense and mobility.

    Senator Lautenberg’s bill was first introduced in 2003.  After winning a key Committee vote on the bill, trucking companies backed off their efforts to allow bigger trucks on the nation’s roads.  Lautenberg also wrote the original law that limiting the spread of triple-trailer trucks to only a handful of states.

    Bigger trucks—both heavier and longer ones—present safety risks, including longer stopping distances, bigger risk of rollover and a greater risk of the last trailer swaying into the adjacent lane.  Research shows that a 100,000-pound truck with unadjusted brakes travels 25 percent further after the driver steps on the brakes than an 80,000-pound truck.

    Big trucks also pose threats to America’s infrastructure.  Heavy trucks contribute to bridge fatigue and bridge damage.  The Department of Transportation (DOT) recently reported that 158,428 of the nation’s 594,101 bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.  In addition, one 110,000-pound triple trailer causes as much pavement damage as 13,981 mini-vans.     

    In 2006, 4,995 people died and 106,000 were injured in traffic accidents involving a large truck.

A section-by-section summary of the bill is below.

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Section-By-Section Summary of the Safe Truck and Operations and Preservation (STOP) Act of 2008

Section 1.        Section 1 would designate the short title of the bill as the “Safe Truck and Operations and Preservations Act”.

Section 2.        Section 2 would limit the operation of “restricted property-carrying units” that is longer than 53 feet on the National Highway System (NHS), unless the operation of such unit is authorized by the State on June 1, 2003, and in actual and lawful operation on a regular or periodic basis, including seasonal operations, on or before that date.  The Secretary of Transportation would be required to publish a list of restricted property-carrying units. Fire-fighting units would be exempt.     

Section 3.        Section 3 would permit a commercial motor vehicle combination authorized in a State to continue to operate on the NHS provided it is in compliance with State law, including routing-specific and configuration-specific designations and all other restrictions in force in the State on June 1, 2003.
 

Section 4.        Section 4 would codify and freeze all grandfather rights.  The Secretary of Transportation would be required to publish a list, by route, commodity and weight, of all truck operations permitted in excess of the Federal Interstate weight limit.  Congress would have jurisdiction over proposals for any new exceptions.

Section 5.        Section 5 would require the Secretary of Transportation to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to define the term “vehicles and loads which cannot easily be dismantled or divided”.

Section 6.        Section 6 would permit the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to waive or limit the application of a Federal vehicle weight limit with respect to a highway route during a period of national emergency in order to respond to the effects of the national emergency.

Section 7.        Section 7 would freeze truck weight limits on the NHS at 80,000 pounds except on those specific sections of highway where higher weights are already permitted.  It would codify existing exceptions to the 80,000-pound limit, and give Congress jurisdiction over proposals for any further exceptions.