AAA joins opposition to increased truck weights in GOP highway bill (HR7)
By Keith Laing
The $260 billion transportation bill released [at the end of January] by House Republicans to spur highway construction in the United States would make roads in the country less safe, AAA argued a day after the GOP announced the legislation.
The proposal from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) to spend $260 billion over five years on road and transit projects includes a provision that would increase the weight of trucks allowed on highways from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds***.
AAA said the increased shipping capacity is not worth the risk of accidents involving bigger trucks.
“With a nine percent increase in truck related fatalities in 2010, traffic safety is a significant concern,” Jill Ingrassia, AAA’s managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy, said in a news release. “Additional research is required to demonstrate exactly how bigger and heavier trucks would impact traffic safety. Absent this research, we cannot take the chance — there is simply too much at stake.”
Read rest of the article from The Hill here.
*** The average U.S. car weighs about 4,000 pounds. An average bicycle weighs 30 pounds.
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