The Modesto Bee (CA) | Fatalities with semitrucks are way up on American highways. Don’t let them get bigger | Opinion

“Policymakers and lawmakers have known for years about the dangerous and deadly relationship between safety and truck weight.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation released its Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study final report to Congress. The report recommended against any increases in the size or weight of trucks. It documented serious safety problems, finding a 47% to 400% higher crash rate for heavier trucks when compared to standard 80,000-pound trucks, in limited state testing. The report concluded that heavier trucks have a higher out-of-service violation rate and an 18% higher brake violation rate when compared to 80,000-pound trucks.

Public safety leaders from across the country are heading to Congress in June to remind lawmakers of their commitment to do no harm when it comes to considering this legislation. The intention is to knock on doors across the U.S. Capitol, to show lawmakers the tragic statistics and allow the data to sink in, because the motorist death toll in any state and around the country will be far worse if lawmakers vote the wrong way.

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