Michael Monheit, Esquire of Monheit Law, P.C.
Toll Free: 866-761-1385
Email: Michael Monheit
While there is a race to the bottom in terms of safety standards, there seems to be a race to the top to allow the biggest and longest trucks.
In 1991, Congress passed a highway re-authorization bill putting in place a federal "freeze" on the operation of longer combination vehicles (LCVs) - triple trailer and long-double trailer trucks. Recently, bigger truck proponents tried and failed to "thaw" the LCV freeze in the 1998 highway bill. But with billions of dollars to gain, bigger truck proponents will continue to look for legislative vehicles to push their agenda.
According to the USDOT draft truck size and weight study, "Truck drivers generally opposed changing the truck size and weight standards. The majority prefer to maintain the status quo or return to a more restrictive set of standards, particularly if the latter would make the rules more uniform...."
Ontario has been blamed for the collapse of the Eastern Provinces Weights and Dimensions Task Force proposal which tried to reduce the damage caused by lift axles and heavy tri-axles. The notorious lift axles are "bashing the dickens out of bridges and highways in Eastern Canada," according to the former Editor of Motor Truck magazine.
Bigger trucks are already a serious safety problem. Today, almost all of these trucks are conventional, single trailer trucks or what we know as "18 wheelers." Yet, LCVs have even worse stability, handling and other safety problems than conventional trucks. Some facts about LCVs:
The Eastern provinces, which have the most battered roads in the country, also allow six axle semi-trailer trucks heavier than the current national standard for semis. In response to the lack of harmony among the provinces, the trucking industry is proposing to raise the weight limit on six axle semis under the national standard by 6,600 pounds. Even if this weight increase is approved, they want a permissive system where provinces can be free to allow even higher weights or longer trucks to support regional economies and trade. Ontario also wants the power to make special arrangements with border U.S. States to allow bigger trucks without consulting other provinces.
The worst safety problem with LCVs is their incompatibility with the existing highway system and traffic volumes. Because they're so big and so slow, they have trouble merging or changing lanes in freeway traffic. Similarly, they have problems maintaining speed on upgrades creating serious safety risks.
Alberta is leading the lobby to establish a longer truck corridor from Edmonton to California along Interstate Highway 15. Idaho has so far resisted several legislative attempts to increase the weight limit on its section of the route.
LCVs will cause more severe accidents, because of their greater weight and bigger "crash footprints" -- they're longer, so when they crash they can sprawl across more lanes of traffic.
Saskatchewan estimates that overweight trucks are causing more than $10 million a year in road damage annually. According to the new transportation policy recently released by the province: "More and larger trucks appear to be the way of the future. Increasing truck traffic will place additional pressure on our highway network." Saskatchewan is looking for higher weight limits on road links to the United States and Mexico under NAFTA.
Increasing the weights of conventional single trailer trucks also creates safety risks. Some in the trucking industry want to increase the current interstate weight limit from 80,000 lbs to 97,000 lbs. or more. But according to a 1988 study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, ". . . gross combination weight is the only vehicle characteristic showing a clear association with the overall fatal accident rate."
