TRUCKS: Driver sets record straight
OK, enough of the scare tactics already. As a truck driver, I have to respond to a few inaccuracies that have landed in the Cd’A Press of late.
Mr. Weber of Hayden is the latest person not telling the full story on SB 1117. Yes, there is consideration being made to allow heavy trucks to carry a weight of 129,000 pounds vs. the current 105,000 pounds. What is not being stated by Mr. Weber, Mayor Larkin, or CABT (Citizens Against Bigger Trucks, a group funded by the railroad — gee go figure that agenda) is that we are talking about a very small percentage of trucks on our North Idaho roads. They are HEAVY Haul special permit required loads. They are NOT your everyday truck and trailer rolling up and down US-95 or I-90.
Another thing that they fail to mention is that while the proposed bill would increase the weight limits on certain approved routes, it does require these trucks to have additional axles to support such loads and spread the weight out over the surface of the road. We need to get the western states all in agreement on weight limits and length limits on all trucks, instead of this hodge-podge approach.
As far as the claims of pollution, hogwash! The more freight (weight) you can legally put on a truck and trailer combination, the fewer trucks you will need. By allowing the use of triple trailers in Idaho, we eliminate one standard set of doubles — that is one less truck on the road. Weight standards of 80,000 pounds was set back in the early ‘80s. Truck and trailers are by far and away safer now then they have ever been. With regulations on newer trucks (diesel exhaust, particulate filters etc.) the air coming out of the truck is cleaner than the air going in.
As long as any heavy load is supported by additional axles you will not see any significant damage to the roads. (How bout outlawing studded tires? They cause damage to our roads as well.) Traffic? Well, US 95 is already a mess with all the traffic lights set up to work against traffic flow; the weight of a truck is not going to change that.
You claim that it will be more dangerous. Let me leave you with this. There was a study done by the University of Michigan, I believe in 1999, which stated that 70 percent of all accidents involving trucks and cars were the fault of the driver of the car. Most simply do not know or understand how to drive and maneuver around a truck and trailer combination. There is no credible crash data (I say credible to account for the ambulance chasers) that link weight as a factor in crashes.
JOHN HOUSEMAN
Post Falls