[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                LONG TRUCKS: TAKING A TURN FOR THE WORSE

                                 ______


                       HON. SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 1994

  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues 
an article that appeared in the May 1994, issue of Progressive 
Railroading magazine. This article was written by a professional civil 
engineer and concerns the ability of long trucks to negotiate right 
turns. The article makes both a mathematical point and a public policy 
point, and I think it would be good for the Congress to review both.
  The math point is that single tractor trailer trucks longer than 53 
feet, today's standard, cannot physically negotiate the right turn at 
most intersections without either running up over the curb or pulling 
out well into the oncoming lane of traffic. In both cases the required 
maneuver is dangerous to pedestrians and motorists and, in the case of 
curb encroachment, causes expensive damage that is paid for by local 
taxpayers. Today, more and more States are allowing 57-foot trucks, and 
there is an active movement to increase that length to 60 feet.
  The public policy point is that by ignoring this simple fact today, 
we in Congress are inevitably creating an expensive and dangerous 
situation from which it will be hard, if not impossible, to extract 
ourselves once all the longer trucks have been built.
  Sometimes we in Congress overlook the obvious, and I think this is 
just one of those cases. The article follows:

                Long Trucks: Making a Turn for the Worse

                           (By Bryan Haight)

       There is a huge disconnect in the government's 
     transportation policy and no one is paying attention to it, 
     least of all, the government. On the one hand, government at 
     every level is attempting to control spending and improve 
     highway safety. On the other hand, it is allowing a steady 
     increase in truck lengths that causes expensive damage to 
     local roads and poses an increasing danger to automobile 
     drivers and pedestrians.
       The main problem with longer vehicles is simply this: 
     trucks with single trailers greater than 48 ft. in length 
     cannot make a right turn at most local intersections without 
     either running over the curb on the right or encroaching into 
     the oncoming lane of traffic on the left. Trucks, themselves, 
     advertise the problem with the rear-end sign we have all read 
     while sitting behind them at a light: ``Danger, this truck 
     makes wide right turns.''
       Government policy makers are contributing to this problem 
     in two ways. First, individual states are allowing a steady 
     increase in permissible truck lengths, and the federal 
     government is doing nothing to stop them. Congress required 
     states to accept 48-ft. trailers in 1982 and trailer lengths 
     have grown dramatically ever since. Today 48 states allow 53-
     ft. trailers, 11 states have moved onto 57 footers, and a 
     coalition called NR 60, standing for ``No Restriction, 60 
     Feet,'' is pushing for an additional increase.
       Second, individual states are expanding the distance that 
     such extra-long trucks are allowed to travel off the main 
     interstate system. Today 19 states allow unlimited travel off 
     the interstate, three states allow between 10 and 20 miles of 
     travel off the interstate road and 16 states allow between 
     one and five miles. If you allow those vehicles to travel 
     within a five-mile radius of interstate exits, you are 
     allowing them unrestricted access to the majority of the 
     local intersections in most metropolitan areas.
       As an engineer by trade, I have studied this problem in 
     great detail. And while I'm sure some of the working 
     engineers in government transportation departments have done 
     the same, the message does not appear to be getting through 
     to the policy makers that this relentless march to larger and 
     longer vehicles needs to be stopped.
       The major problem with these long trailers is a phenomenon 
     known as ``offtracking.'' Simply put, offtracking is the 
     degree by which the rear wheels fail to follow the path of 
     the front wheels when making a turn on a local road. 
     Offtracking to the right destroys curbs, light fixtures and 
     sign posts. More important, it poses a serious threat to 
     pedestrians standing on the curb. Offtracking to the left 
     poses a hazard to oncoming traffic.
       The most serious and common result is the so-called 
     ``rolling guillotine'' effect that occurs when the rear of a 
     trailer hits the on-coming automobile during the turn, with 
     the underside of the trailer shearing off the roof of the 
     automobile.
       Two respected groups the American Association of State 
     Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the 
     Transportation Research Board (TRB), have made detailed 
     mathematical studies of this problem. Today the typical local 
     intersection has curb radius of between 15 and 40 ft. and 
     traffic lanes of no more than 12 ft. wide. Aggregating the 
     data used in both the AASHTO and TRB studies, I prepared a 
     table summarizing which trucks can make turns without 
     overrunning the curb or encroaching into an oncoming lane. As 
     the table shows, the typical intersection cannot accommodate 
     the lengths we have today, let alone the increases that 
     are being sought. Indeed, in its 1989 report, Providing 
     Access for Large Trucks, the TRB recommended that all 
     states be encouraged to adopt a maximum trailer length of 
     48 ft. in order to minimize the serious consequences of 
     offtracking.
       In my own state of Wisconsin, the state Department of 
     Transportation began a study of this problem in 1989. While 
     confirming the above data, the study also addressed what 
     compensatory measures could be taken by truck and automobile 
     drivers at intersections that cannot accommodate these longer 
     trucks. One of the study's conclusions is referenced in the 
     TRB Access study and bears repeating: ``The results of the 
     research to date indicate that, subject to traffic volumes, 
     right-turning trucks can negotiate turns by taking advantages 
     of gaps in the oncoming traffic * * *'' As a motorist, that 
     gives me very little comfort.


                         increasing road taxes

       Last year the federal government insisted on a gasoline tax 
     increase of 31 percent because it claimed it did not have 
     enough money to maintain the nation's roads. It is wrong for 
     the government to be raising money from taxpayers to repair 
     roads while at the same time allowing activities that 
     dramatically increase those repair costs. If I ran my 
     business that way, I would be fired.
       To politicians, this may seem a highly technical issue with 
     financial ramifications that cannot be easily quantified. In 
     reality, it's really quite a simple mathematical issue--
     trucks over 53 ft. cannot make the turn without taking out 
     the curb or encroaching into the oncoming traffic lane. 
     Congress can change the law to allow longer trucks, but they 
     can't repeal the laws of physics.
       If Congress chooses to ignore the numbers, I hope they will 
     at least consider the human factor. If it hasn't already 
     happened somewhere, it is only a matter of time before school 
     children standing on a curb are injured or killed by a truck 
     that can't make a turn without encroaching on the curb. The 
     time to limit that risk is now by putting a stop to this mad 
     ruch toward ever increasing truck lengths.

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