A new legislation that would raise weight limits on commercial trucks is already meeting strong opposition from  truck accident lawyers and victims' families.

Attorneys and victims are joining hands to fight the legislation that would allow large trucks to carry heavier loads than they do now. The efforts against the legislation called the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act of 2009 have involved the families of victims who have lost their loved ones in truck accidents. At least one activist Joan Clay Brook has set off a petition drive mobilizing opinion against the bill that is moving through Congress.

Earlier this year, I had discussed the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act of 2009 which could expand current and weight and size limits on trucks to the entire national highway system. We have far too many accidents involving serious injures and deaths involving these massive vehicles and allowing larger heavier trucks will only increase the risk of danger to smaller vehicles when they have to share the road with them.

Victim’s families have taken a proactive role in making their concerns apparent to legislators. These families include the parents of a young woman who was killed when the wheel of the tractor trailer came loose, and crashed through the windshield of her car.

Tractor trailers at their current size and weight are a risk to motorists. These risks may or may not be a direct result of their size and weight.  I see a lot of accidents that are the result of poor truck maintenance, fatigued or drunk drivers and reckless driving. Nevertheless, larger tractor trailers would simply mean that truck drivers would find it even harder to drive these massive vehicles than they do now. Even with the current weight limits on trucks, we have too many cases of big rigs jackknifing and overturning with devastating consequences for motorists nearby.  

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..