New Jersey Senator Introduces Bill aimed at Truck Accident Prevention
A new bill announced by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) promises to not just reduce the truck accident rate around the country, but also contribute to the preservation and maintenance of our highways. The bill, called the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act of 2009 will extend weight limits on triple trailers to the entire National Highway System, all 160,000 miles of it. That includes smaller national highways and interstate highways. Currently, restrictions on truck size and weight - which are 53 feet for length and 80,000 pounds for weight - are in place for the Interstate Highway System which stretches about 44,000 miles. If the bill is passed, tractor trailers which extend those weight and size limits, will not be allowed on 160,000 miles of highway.
The bill has already found strong support from the Teamsters Union, the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association as well as New Jersey truck accident lawyers.
There are already far too many serious and fatal accidents involving these large commercial trucks on our highways. Many of these result in life altering injuries like spinal cord injuries and brain injuries that not only rob the victim of his life as it was before the accident, but also end up heavily straining the public healthcare system, and consequently, our economy. Our existing transportation infrastructure is already bursting at the seams, and is in need of substantial renovation and repairs. With a recession in full swing, finding the money to improve existing highways is going to be hard. Allowing heavier and larger trucks into the situation would simply aggravate an already stressful truck traffic situation.
We can expect opposition from the trucking industry which would like nothing better than to introduce larger, bulkier trucks capable of carrying bigger loads. Bigger trucks would make more business sense to these companies, and lead to higher profits. However, it would place smaller passenger vehicles around the country at an even greater risk than the one they face now while sharing the road with a big rig. Besides, the bill would contribute to savings in highway repairs, because of the reduced wear and tear on our roads, thereby preventing other accidents as well..
