In The News
TCA sends letter urging lawmakers not to adopt any bill supporting twin 33-foot trailers
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On the eve of a key vote, the Truckload Carriers Association is urging members of Congress to oppose legislation that would allow the use of twin 33-foot trailers on the nation's highways.
The association says such trailers would force motorists to share the roads with 91-foot-long tractor-trailer combinations and that bigger trucks would harm many trucking companies and their drivers.
TCA Chairman Keith Tuttle and TCA Highway Policy Committee Chairman Jim Towery Tuesday sent a letter to the leadership of the House Infrastructure Committee designed to head off any attempt to include in the House Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 any language that would allow twin 33-foot trailers.
The committee is schedule to take up the bill Thursday.
In the letter, which was addressed to committee Chairman Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and Rankiing Member Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the two TCA leaders said the organization's members were deeply concerned that if language allowing 33-foot trailers became law, there would be pressure on truckload carriers to switch to the longer trailers to haul truckload freight.
"Such a shift would be disastrous for many truckload carriers," Tuttle said. "Many companies simply cannot afford to invest in twin 33-foot trailers, which can cost twice as much as a single 53-foot trailer. Nor can they afford the increased cost of training, certifying and licensing their drivers to operate these vehicles, which research by the U.S. Department of Transportation has shown are more likely to roll over than a truck with a single 53-foot trailer."
Tuttle also warned that longer trucks will increase the potential for driver injuries, noting that the physical demands of operating and assembling a tractor-trailer increase greatly with the size.
"Although our drivers have weathered may changes over the years, requiring them to break up 91-foot-long trucks four times on each load and manhandle a 3,000-pound con-gear is simply too much to ask. As our workforce ages, the last thing we can afford is a setback to our efforts to improve the job and enhance the drivers' quality of life," Tuttle said.
Until Saturday, the TCA had been neutral on the issue of 33-foot trailers, despite the fact that both the House and Senate versions of the FY2016 Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill allow for 33-foot trailers. The House has passed its THUD bill. The Senate is awaiting action.
Then Saturday during a board meeting held in conjunction with the American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition at Philadelphia, board members voted to approve a recommendation of the Highway Policy Committee that the TCA go on record opposing the longer combinations.
The ATA supports the longer trailers.
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