On July 9, 2008, the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure took testimony on the subject of truck weight and length regulations. Generally, federal regulations limit truck weight to a maximum of 20,000 pounds for single axles, 34,000 pounds for tandem axles, with a total Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) limit of 80,000 pounds. These limits have been in effect since 1974.

The issue of whether trucks of greater width and weight should be allowed on our highways has recently received greater attention. Generally, the trucking industry contends that larger trucks are needed to handle an ever increasing flow of cargo across the country. Safety advocates, on the other hand, claim that bigger trucks will increase to number of truck related crashes and damage our aging roads and bridges.

On behalf of the Teamster’s Union, truckers testified that larger trucks would be unsafe. Specifically, they argued that road widths, automobile traffic, and short highway entrance ramps all make bigger trucks too dangerous. Trucking industry representatives, on the other hand, claim that bigger trucks are needed to off-set increased fuel costs, address increased demand for freight transportation, and harmonize federal and state regulations.

A summary of the hearing subject matter, the written testimony of the witnesses, and a video of the hearing itself are all available at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee website.

On October 10, 2007, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act of 2007 (H.R. 3820) was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill seeks to encourage the use of advanced safety technology in commercial trucking by providing a tax credit to trucking companies.

The legislation’s “congressional findings” detail the tremendous human and economic costs associated with truck crashes:

(1) Commercial motor vehicle crashes remain a primary source of concern in the United States, particularly in light of the increasing numbers of trucks and motorcoaches on the Nation’s roads and their critical role in the transportation of hazardous materials.

(2) A 2004 report by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program found that when a large truck is involved in a crash, it is about 2.6 times as likely to result in a fatality compared with passenger cars.

(3) The number of fatalities associated with large truck crashes is a significant portion of all crash fatalities in the United States. In 2005, 5,212 individuals died and 114,000 individuals were injured as a result of large truck-related crashes in the United States. Overall, from 2001 to 2005, there have been 25,533 large truck-related fatalities in the United States.

(4) In addition to the tremendous human loss, these crashes also impose a significant economic cost on society. The Department of Transportation estimates that highway crashes cost society $230.6 billion a year, about $820 per person. A 2006 report issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration determined that the estimated cost of each crash involving a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds is $91,112 while the average cost of a fatal crash is $3,604,518.

 

(5) Investments by vehicle suppliers and truck and motorcoach manufacturers in research and innovative design have created a new generation of advanced safety systems and technologies.

 

(6) Advanced safety technologies will directly address, and help mitigate the effects of, commercial motor vehicle crash scenarios.

 

(7) The Department of Transportation has set a goal to reduce the traffic fatality rate to 1.0 per hundred million vehicle miles traveled by 2011.

 

(8) The accelerated production, sale, and deployment of advanced safety technologies on commercial motor vehicles can speed the progress toward this critical goal and reduce the daily injuries and fatalities on the Nation’s roads and highways. This progress would also help to mitigate the societal cost of these crashes.

(9) Therefore, Congress finds that it is in the interest of the United States to increase the deployment of advanced vehicle safety technologies on commercial motor vehicles in the domestic market by providing businesses with tax incentives, designed to make such systems more affordable for purchase.

(The full text of the bill is available at the Library of Congress website by searching for ‘H3820′.)

The bill proposes to give a tax credit in an amount equal to one half of the cost of certain advanced technology safety systems including “brake stroke monitoring systems”, “lane departure warning systems”, “collision warning systems”, and “vehicle stability systems.” The tax credit is limited to $350,000 per trucking company.

Of course, the legislation is heavily favored by the companies which manufacture these safety systems, such as Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems. Through its trade group, the Motor and Equipment Manufacturer’s Association, it recently lobbied congress, for the second time this year, for the passage of this legislation. From the standpoint of public safety, however, any measures designed to reduce the number and severity of truck crashes are welcome additions.