LiberalTrucker contributed this post for Masslogics Trucking News. “Bigger is Better” has always been an American motto. And now many trucking companies are asking Washington to allow them to have bigger trucks.
A coalition of truck drivers wants to ensure that a Bill can be reauthorized by Congress to allow for bigger trucks on the road at the end of next year. For the past several years, big trucks were banned from many of the highways in the country. Now, the truckers want to get permission from Congress to be able to drive their large vehicles in several states including Maine, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Georgia and possibly Texas.
These States have been selected partly because of their economic benefits of having a seaport location or border crossing with either Canada or Mexico.
Owner operators believe that American drivers are at a major disadvantage compared to their Canadian and Mexican colleagues who can drive heavier trucks on six axles. Having access to the big trucks at the cross Border States like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Texas and the Canadian border will bring the truckers on parity when it comes to the loads that they can carry over the border.
The truckers also claim that with the larger vehicles they will be able to reduce the size of their fleets which in turn could lead to lower overhead costs, less impact on the environment and decreased damage to the highways.
However, this does not sit well with many other Unions, esp. the Teamsters. Jim Hoffa the president of Teamsters Union says that having bigger trucks on the road is more dangerous and will completely ruin our already poor road infrastructure. He thinks the idea borders on insanity.
Not to be outdone, Joan Claybrook who is President of Parents Against Tired Truckers has urged Congress to simply ignore the demands of the certain truckers. She thinks that are clueless.
More than likely this demand by the truckers is going to fail, but one can never know.
One should note is that many studies have shown that larger trucks are more likely to have fatal accidents compare to their smaller counterparts. The DOT claims that the currently designed large trucks can be expected to experience a fatal crash of 11% higher than single trailer combinations- perhaps Congress should have this data before agreeing to any demands by the truckers.
