Police chiefs oppose plans for bigger freight trucks
Many Ohioans will remember the state tourism slogan from years ago: “Ohio, The Heart of It All.” We have many reasons to still believe in that old license-plate motto, but it also still applies for a few not-so-great reasons: Our beloved state is also the heart of adverse winter weather, severe interstate congestion and heavy overthe-highway freight traffic.
While truck traffic can mean a productive economy, bigger trucks can also mean more-dangerous roads, including on the Ohio Turnpike where tripletrailer trucks operate. And it is these bigger trucks that trouble police chiefs and other law-enforcement agencies because they have more brake problems and higher crash rates and cause more-severe crashes and a larger crash footprint.
Ohio cannot also become the heart of longer, heavier, more dangerous trucks.
Law enforcement is concerned with proposals in Congress that would allow bigger trucks across the Buckeye State, like single-trailer trucks increasing weight from 80,000 to 91,000 pounds and longer double-trailer trucks that are 17 feet longer than single-trailer trucks.
Some special interests are pushing lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve these trucks for widespread use on Ohio highways, even though law enforcement and research experts alike warn that they are far too dangerous. Years of polling data show the motoring public overwhelmingly opposes them as well.
Survey after survey has found that the public generally supports freight transportation so long as it is transported safely, and bigger trucks violate that promise.
Our police chiefs oppose bigger trucks because they must protect the public, law-enforcement officers and others who work in these areas of risk. When law-enforcement officers patrol the highway, they are forced to contend with winter weather just like other motorists. Officers face enough dangers already and do not need bigger trucks in bad weather added to the traffic mix.
Then, when working on the roadside for a crash scene or disabled vehicle, officers deal with snow, wind gusts and tractortrailers buzzing by only a few feet away. For officers, allowing bigger trucks would mean even more dangers in and outside the cruiser.
Research supports the case against heavier and longer trucks, as well. When Congress mandated that the U.S. Department of Transportation analyze bigger trucks, its strong recommendation in 2016 was to make no changes to truck size or weight laws. After analyzing heavier trucks, researchers found 47 percent to 400 percent higher crash rates than trucks operating at today’s 80,000 pounds — and it determined longer doubles require 22 more feet of pavement to stop than do today’s double-trailer trucks.
The analysis also found that heavier and longer trucks have higher out-ofservice violation rates. What does that mean in the real world? A truck with any out-of-service violation is 362 percent more likely to be involved in a crash, according to a 2016 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study.
Motorists oppose bigger trucks, police chiefs oppose them and researchers recommend against them. Yet there has been the threat of bigger-truck proposals in Washington, D.C., nearly every legislative session for years, and it is safe to say that most people weren’t aware there was any such risk. The reason is because special-interest lobbyists know they can win the bigger-truck debate if it is low-profile, with no hearings, and kept from the public eye.
These lobbyists know their legislation will not pass on its own, so they have devised tactics to insert their proposals into bills that are anticipated to be “too big to fail,” like spending bills in the appropriations committees — hardly the appropriate forum for making policy decisions that will affect nearly every motorist on the highway.
The good news is that members of Congress have convincingly rejected these proposals on bipartisan votes when given the chance. However, community leaders and constituents must continue to weigh in on these issues and keep the majority opposition in the minds of our congressional representatives.
Please ask our policymakers to maintain current truck size and weight laws so we can keep our motorists and officers as safe as possible on Ohio roads.