Trucking Industry Wrong on Maine and Vermont 100,000 Pound Truck Pilot Program - DEAD Wrong

LISBON, Maine and ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Daphne Izer, founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.) after her son Jeff and three of his friends were killed in a truck crash, and the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC) released startling information revealed in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request sent to the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans).  Documents show that during the 100,000 lb. truck pilot project in 2010, Vermont's commercial motor vehicle fatal crash rate tripled from .49 fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled in 2009 to 1.44 fatal crashes ("Vermont Truck Interstate Pilot Study- Report to Congress (State of Vermont Version for Review) - Summary Report (Draft)" prepared for FHWA by Cambridge Systematics, Inc, hereinafter "Vermont Report").  

Additionally, in sharp contrast to claims by trucking interests and state officials that allowing heavier trucks will result in fewer trucks, the number of trucks on the roads increased dramatically.  According to the Vermont Report, "The Vermont DMV tracked the change in permits for 99,000 lb. 6-axle trucks, which increased from 1,500 in 2009 to over 3,000 in 2010 during the pilot."

Trucking interests also claimed that by allowing heavier trucks on the Interstates, these trucks would stop using secondary roads.  "The industry's duplicitous and untrustworthy assertions used to advance a dangerous policy are brought to light for what they truly are -- corporate greed at the expense of public safety," stated Julie Magnan, TSC Vermont Coordinator and truck crash survivor.  The Vermont Report states, "Because the decrease in VMT (vehicle miles traveled) on the non-Interstates was relatively small (1.5 percent), the pilot might have provided only limited relief to some communities that complained of heavy trucks using their local thoroughfares, passing close to schools and town centers."

"Congress must stop this deadly exemption right now.  This special interest pilot project used motorists as human guinea pigs in a killer experiment.  The results are clear -- more deaths, more dangerous trucks, more damage to our already compromised infrastructure, and more costs -- which are not paid for by the industry but by the taxpayers," stated Daphne Izer, P.A.T.T. founder.  

Results from FOIA requests to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Maine Department of Transportation (Maine DOT) exposed similar catastrophic results.  Maine had an increase from four to seven fatalities in 6-axle large truck crashes, more overly heavy trucks were on the roads, and experts expressed strong reservations about the ability of bridges to withstand the additional stresses.  During the five years preceding the pilot program (2005-2009), there were zero fatalities on local roads and zero fatalities on Non-Turnpike Interstates involving 6-axle large truck crashes.  During the one year of the pilot project, there were 3 fatalities on local roads and 2 fatalities on Non-Turnpike Interstates involving 6-axle large truck crashes.

"Congress is about to make a critical policy decision to turn this one-year, overweight truck weight exemption into a permanent one.  In light of the additional deaths and revelations about dramatic increases in dangerous trucks on Vermont and Maine roads, Congress cannot morally allow this exemption to continue.  They need to take heed of the deadly results from the pilot project," said John Lannen, TSC Executive Director.  

Lannen continued, "If they allow a special interest exemption from the current federal 80,000 lb. truck weight limits for Maine and Vermont, other states will be lining right up to ask for their special exemptions.  The ripple effect will be catastrophic and the entire country's motoring public will be put in grave danger."  P.A.T.T. and TSC urge the House to reject the Senate provision and pass an appropriations bill that advances safety instead of the economic agenda of the trucking industry.

"People needlessly died because of the Maine and Vermont pilot program. In light of the facts revealed by the FOIA requests -- more overweight heavy trucks, more deaths, and more pavement and bridge destruction -- passing a permanent exemption is completely irresponsible and a death sentence for more Vermont and Maine families. The trucking industry lobbyists are trying to slide this exemption through the backdoor of the Appropriations bill and they are using it as the first step to get higher weight limits throughout the country.  If the FDA had these results from a drug trial, Congress would be shutting down the program today.  Instead the Senate is poised to make it a permanent program and ignore public health and safety," said Joan Claybrook, Chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH).

Claybrook added, "Congress needs to pass the SHIPA Act (Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation, S876/HR1574) now to retain truck weight limits at their current levels.  The public's safety should be first and foremost on the minds of our elected officials and not specious claims by trucking special interests to promote their economic agenda.  The Vermont and Maine pilot program have proven what safety groups have claimed all along -- the public will pay with their lives and their wallets if truck weights are increased.  Congress must not let that happen in any transportation bill."  

Every year on average, approximately 4,000 people are killed and 100,000 more sustain injuries in truck-involved crashes. In two-vehicle crashes, between a large truck and a passenger vehicle, 97 percent of the deaths were occupants of the passenger vehicle. Bigger, heavier trucks take longer to stop, are more prone to roll over, and accelerate bridge and road destruction.

For more information revealed from the documents turned over from the FOIA requests, www.trucksafety.org.

SOURCE Truck Safety Coalition