U.S. truck size and weight report paints discouraging picture of LCVs

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 4) — Widespread use of long-combination vehicles (LCVs) would drastically reduce the number of tractor-trailers on the road but would likely increase the risk of truck accidents, suggests a study released last week by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.

The draft report — the first comprehensive study of truck size and weight by the government since 1982 — is part of a four-volume study the U.S. government hopes will serve as the basis for federal and state transportation policy. The complete report will be sent to Congress next spring.

The study assessed the impact on safety, productivity, the environment, pavement, and bridges of several regulatory scenarios ranging from limiting maximum truck weights to 80,000 pounds on federal highways to allowing LCVs unlimited access to Interstates and the other major highways.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said the report is not intended to make recommendations as to whether, or how, truck size and weight policies should be changed. But the report paints an especially discouraging picture of LCVs, which are restricted to a limited network of major highways among other operational conditions — a network some trucking group have lobbied to expand.

It concluded there would be a 23.4% drop in the number of truck-vehicle-miles traveled if double- and triple-trailer vehicles were allowed throughout the nation’s highway system because there would be fewer trucks on the road. But the study also said that long-combination vehicles tend to have a higher accident rate than other trucks, and suggests that were LCVs allowed in the more densely populated U.S. East, “crash rates would be higher than past history would suggest” because of “increased conflict opportunities.”

Moreover, Slater explained that should congressional policy-makers propose any change to the size and weight of trucks, it “should enhance, not diminish, overall safety” — which LCV advocates have interpreted as a negative statement.

The study triggered a vitriolic response from American Trucking Associations president and CEO Walter B. McCormick, Jr., who called the study “deeply flawed and a waste of taxpayer’s money.”

McCormick, whose organization primarily represents large truck fleets, criticized the report for using hypothetical scenarios that are unrealistic and failing to use “good safety data” regarding LCVs.

“The study assumes extensive, nationwide, longer combination vehicle networks that are more than three times longer than the current LCV network and encompass an additional 26 states,” he said. “The networks do not appear to take into account roadway geometry, state permitting processes, traffic levels, shipper needs, or any other practical considerations that would make these routes legitimate candidates for LCV expansion.”

McCormick noted that the report includes truck configurations “that do not exist today and are unlikely to exist in the future. For example, the study uses a seven-axle triple that has a GVW of 132,000 pounds. Practically speaking, triples would never carry that much weight given the nature of their cargo. In addition, a 132,000-pound truck would violate the federal bridge formula.”

McCormick added that the report uses data that lumps double 28-foot-trailer combinations with other LCVs more common in long-haul use. “These doubles cannot be compared to LCVs,” McCormick said. “Their network of operations is virtually unlimited, they have a lot of urban mileage, their drivers don’t need additional training, and their operational characteristics are much different than that of LCVs.”

The DOT is accepting public comment on the draft for the next 60 days. Copies will be available from the DOT Office of Public Affairs at 202/366-5580.