News

“New products come to the market regularly, and consumers have come to expect significant testing and safeguards, especially for products that can affect public safety. This is why law enforcement nationwide is concerned with legislation under consideration in Congress that would allow bigger trucks on our roads. Some bills would dramatically increase the allowable weight of semi-trailer trucks that have already been approved by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. And there continues to be talk of allowing even longer…

One proposal would create a 10-year “pilot project” allowing 91,000-pound trucks — five and a half tons heavier than today’s limits. The goal: to see how many of these trucks are involved in crashes and to report the number of injuries and deaths. The usual years of data analysis and testing? Not for these 91,000-pound behemoths. The goal is to skip the typical due diligence and put them on roads immediately across America. Motorists become the guinea pigs in this…

“In my experience analyzing fatal crashes, bigger trucks would be a disaster for public safety,” Vandalia Police Chief Kurt Althouse said. “It’s simple physics. More weight means more force, turning what could have been a fender bender into a fatal crash”. Althouse said truck crashes are at a “crisis level” in Ohio and recent data shows 2021 to be the worst year in recent history.   Read More + Watch the video here +     …

“OOIDA has long opposed efforts to increase the size and weight of commercial vehicles on our nation’s roadways, and we hope that you will reject any efforts to do so through any single bill or as part of larger legislative negotiations on infrastructure, appropriations or Farm Bill reauthorization,” the Association wrote in the letter signed by President and CEO Todd Spencer. Read More +…

Deputy Chief Engineer Andrew Heath told the State Transportation Board on Wednesday that the Georgia Department of Transportation and local governments will post signs with weight restrictions on the additional bridges by Sept. 2, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The tally includes 306 state-owned bridges and 427 local bridges.   Read More +…

“We all know the basic science behind weight,” said Steven Casstevens, who serves on the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks’ law enforcement board. “The heavier the truck, the longer the stopping distance.” “We’re not opposed to trucks,” Roseberry said. “… Everybody would agree they’re vital to the economy and keeping everything going. The question is … at what weight should these things continue to operate?” The Safe Routes Act is not limited to Wisconsin, but would have nationwide effects, and Roseberry said…

With the recent passage of a bill to increase truck weight limits in Georgia, not all state and local officials are on board with the measure. WALB’s Jim Wallace spoke to a local official who rallied against the bill. Melissa Hughes is a Tift county commissioner. She’s in Washington, D.C., lobbying Congress about trucks’ weight. Your lobbying efforts, how were they taken on Wednesday? “It was received very well and all the staffers that I spoke with, they said that…

“A new report co-authored by Klasner states that more than 72,000 bridges nationwide cannot safely handle the proposed heavier truck weights. Replacing the bridges, Klasner said, would cost taxpayers more than $60 billion. In Illinois, 1,252 bridges would be put at risk, he said, with a replacement cost of more than $1 billion.”   Read more+…

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 28, 2023CONTACT: Brad Roseberry – 571-480-5483 New Study Finds Legislation to Increase Truck Weight Would Crush Local Bridges More than 72,000 bridges would be put at risk by legislation to raise the truck weight limit by five and a half tons.  Special interests are lobbying for federal legislation that would put heavier semi-trucks onto local roads. A new report being delivered to the U.S. Congress shows that more than 72,000 bridges nationwide cannot safely handle the proposed heavier truck…

Completely stopped in traffic on the state road, their two cars were smashed by a tractor-trailer driving 70 mph. The driver later testified in court that he didn’t know why he didn’t try to slow down. In the end, five students died, including Emily Clark. A sixth student was left with a traumatic brain injury and the driver was sent to jail after pleading guilty to five counts of vehicular homicide. Emily’s mother, Kathy, is not one of the lobbyists…