Bill would limit size and weight of commercial trucks

Commercial truck accidents can result in serious injuries and fatalities. Investigations often find that many truck accidents are caused by unsafe commercial vehicles or unsafe truck drivers operating the vehicle. To address the dangers posed by commercial trucks, legislators have proposed a bill that would limit the size and weight of commercial trucks.

The proposed bill, titled the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act, would keep federal truck size and weight limits from increasing and close loopholes that allow companies to operate overweight trucks on U.S. roads. The bill would also create an enforcement program to crackdown on companies that violate the size and weight restrictions.

The bill was proposed to address the dangers of heavy trucks. Government reports show that roughly 4,000 people are victims of fatal truck accidents every year. Advocates for improving the safety of commercial trucks say that heavy trucks increase the risk of an accident and that a majority of the public supports weight and size limits for commercial trucks.

Many families testified before Congress in support of the bill, telling them about the serious and fatal truck accidents their family members were victims of. Many truck accidents are caused by overweight and unsafe trucks, in addition to some truck drivers having medical conditions or being too tired to drive safely.

Safety advocates believe that if commercial trucks are kept from increasing in weight or size as well as improve their enforcement program, commercial trucks should become safer and fewer serious and fatal accidents will happen in the future.

There have been many proposed bills and solutions to make commercial trucks safer. Advocates and even many in the trucking industry are hoping that this bill will be passed to help pave the way to a safer commercial trucking industry.

Source: Fleet Owner, “Truck crash victims support legislation to freeze truck size and weight limits,” Deborah Whistler, May 9, 2013