Current mood:

worried

Truckloads of Trouble
One of the problems with there being such BIG problems going on in our state and country is that others, just as bad on a smaller scale, don't get the coverage or attention they should.

I just happened to read about this today in the email I get from TomPaine.com. Possibly it caught my attention because my son Sterling is a trucker.

"The Federal Highway Administration, which oversees our nation's highway system, is about to issue a regulation allowing 97-foot-long multi-truck monstrosities to roar up and down our nation's streets. These vehicle combinations, called "saddlemount vehicle transporter combinations," or simply, "four-ways," consist of four trucks linked together, with only the first truck maintaining both its front and rear wheels on the ground. On the three other trucks, only the rear wheels touch the ground, the front resting on the truck preceding it. From the side, if one roars by you on the road, they look like elephants holding each others' tails with their trunks—only much, much larger and more dangerous.

As one veteran truck driver with 40 years of driving experience put it, in testimony submitted to the FHA,

The notion that a saddlemount load, 97 feet long and consisting of four semi tractors, is safe is absurd. All four-way configurations have the tendency to cause the fourth truck to whip and sway to a certain degree. It can quickly become a very dangerous situation.

Another driver, who has been driving vehicle combinations for 20 years, testified, "While driving these setups, the rear truck is unstable and wanders excessively from side to side. This type of setup is a danger to the motoring public and to myself." "

Full article here

Short version is, even though Bush signed off on the law allowing these crazy Frankentrucks to be loose on the streets, the Federal Highway Administration has not. Yet.

You can write to this guy to say you think it's a bad idea.

"Comments on the proposed rule should be sent to Richard Capka, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, at Rick.Capka@dot.gov."