Should Longer and Heavier Trucks Be Allowed on KY Highways?

The trucking and shipping industries have made efforts to relax safety standards and allow longer and heavier trucks on U.S. highways. However, according to a national survey, Americans overwhelming oppose these measures.

Officials with the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen and the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.) have argued that trucks that are larger and heavier will cause more deaths and damage roads and bridges across the nation. These groups held a news conference at the U.S. Capitol and included individuals who were injured in large truck accidents, as well as family members who lost loved ones due to truck crashes.

“There is overwhelming scientific evidence that shows the larger trucks get, the more difficult they are to control, the longer they take to stop, and the more dangerous they are to the motoring public,” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. “Today, we are telling the trucking and shipping industries that we don’t need a demolition derby on U.S. highways.”

The trucking industry has argued that allowing bigger and heavier trucks will decrease the amount of trucks on the roads. However, safety advocates do not believe that larger trucks will increase trucking productivity.

Daphne Izer, Founder, Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.) and mother of Jeff Izer killed in a preventable truck crash made the following statement, “The course of my life changed drastically 15 years ago, when my son, Jeff, was killed in a senseless, preventable crash with a big rig truck in Maine. If the trucking industry has its way, more families will have to suffer what mine did and always will. There will be more truck crash-related deaths, more debilitating injuries, and more roadway damage and destruction. A short term gain for the economic agenda of the trucking industry will result in long term pain for American families.”

Each year approximately 5,000 people are killed in truck accidents and more than 100,000 are injured in truck crashes in the United States. The majority of Americans fear that super-size trucks, which are in essence what the trucking industry wants to allow, will cause more catastrophic truck wrecks on the nation’s highways.

It has been estimated that an 80,000 tractor-trailer truck causes as much damage to roads and bridges as 9,600 cars, not to mention the injuries these large trucks contribute to each year.

If you or a family member has been seriously injured in a truck wreck in Kentucky, contact the experienced large truck accident lawyers at Gray and White Law at (502) 637-6000 or (800) 637-6033 for legal advice. We are experienced in handling tractor-trailer crash cases in Kentucky.