Companies Pressing For Larger And Heavier Trucks On The Highways

Emboldened by U.S. legislation allowing Maine and Vermont to keep 97,000-pound trucks rumbling on their interstate highways, Kraft Foods Inc. and Home Depot Inc. are pressing more states to follow.

Companies including Kraft, which says its trucks would drive 33 million fewer miles a year with higher weight limits nationwide, say they need to carry loads more efficiently to combat high diesel-fuel prices. Safety advocates say more heavy trucks would accelerate an increase in truck-related accident deaths, and question whether bridges can withstand the added weight.



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Joe_Limon - 12/19/2011 1:09:50 PM

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At their current weights you're screwed if you hit them, who cares if they weigh two or three times as much?

chewy - 12/19/2011 2:13:33 PM

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Because that makes them even more likely to not stop in time or rollover or do something else that wold cause a crash in the first place.

Joe_Limon - 12/19/2011 3:16:31 PM

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Rollover or doing something else is a driver issue, and a cog issue not a weight issue. A heavier truck will take longer to stop, but at least you wouldn't have them trying to do overtake procedures.

t_bone - 12/19/2011 7:40:24 PM

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Because they do lots of wear and tear to the highways, which politicians have lost interest in maintaining to any standard of quality.

PLAY - 12/19/2011 2:14:10 PM

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A heavier vehicle would take a longer time to stop. I imagine it would handle much differently as well.

Joe_Limon - 12/19/2011 3:14:11 PM

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Yes, which is why you don't slam on your brakes in front of them in the first place...

topneuro - 12/19/2011 5:31:47 PM

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A faster Greyhound bus cannot substitute a Bullet train. A bigger truck cannot move more cargo better, safer, faster than a freight train. USA should build a real train transportation system like most modern countries did decades ago and stop building Cr*p that get blown up in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Joe_Limon - 12/19/2011 9:51:31 PM

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While it would be nice, do you have any idea how expensive that would be? To connect the entire country you would be looking in excess of 2 trillion dollars.

valhallakey - 12/20/2011 3:20:35 AM

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It actually is connected via train for cargo. Use trucks for the last mile... and not behemoths that cut deep grooves in the road and are a friggin hazard!