From Fox 5:
Large trucks on America's interstates could become 20 percent heavier. The Coalition of Transportation Productivity, a group of more than 100 major shippers including Coca-Cola and The Home Depot, is supporting legislation in Congress that, proponents say, would increase efficiency and reduce emissions.
In 2009, nearly 300,000 trucks were involved in crashes in the United States, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Safety advocates argue heavier trucks may cause more serious accidents. But proponents of the legislation say increasing the weight limit would actually reduce the number of trucks on roads, making them safer.
Either way, many state transportation officials worry about the impacts of heavier loads on their roads and their budgets.
The proposed legislation would allow individual states to opt out, leaving an open question as to whether the U.S. continues its patchwork of weight limits, or whether the heavier trucks become the new normal.
2 comments:
Our roads are already taking a beating from these trucks. All the main roads trucks use are always beat up because of the truck traffic, heavier trucks will only make it worse.
It would NOT reduce the number of trucks on roads but make things WORSE.
The large corporations like Home Depot would get the new trucks and put millions of cheap obsolete junkers in the hands of people who shouldn't have, nor maintain them.
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