SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ‘Safer Truck Act’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

            The Congress finds the following:

(1) Heavy trucks carrying up to twenty metric tons of cargo on the National Highway System are not equipped with modern safety features presently found on cars.  These features include disc brakes, crash absorbent bumpers and body panels, sway bars, roll bars, and underride beams.  Under current law, truckers who choose to equip their vehicles with such safety features risk fines and other penalties for violating Federal weight and width restrictions even when the amount of cargo carried is not more than the amount customarily carried on trucks lacking such safety features.

(2) Trucking is the deadliest industry in the United States.One in every 7 Americans killed on the job is a trucker (approximately 800 of the 5900 workplace deaths in 2001).704 truckers were killed in truck crashes alone in 2001, along with 4,378 motorists and pedestrians—more than 5,000 preventable deaths.  Of the 130,000 people injured by commercial trucks in 2001, 29,000 were truckers.  Over 150,000 people, including more than 25,000 truckers, have been killed in preventable large-truck crashes since the end of the Vietnam War along with more than 3,000,000 injured.  Many of these deaths can be prevented in the future by exempting safety features from truck weight and width restrictions and regulating only the weight of truck cargo rather than the overall weight of the truck.

(3) New intermodal technologies have emerged that promise to replace dangerous and inefficient long-haul trucks with safer,more efficient short-haul trucks that will utilize road, sea, rail, and inland waterways transportation to substantially reduce the Nation ’s dependence on foreign oil and lower the cost of food and other goods—especially for State run welfare programs.  Under current law, States are required to impose unreasonable burdens on such intermodal trucks, such as requiring special permits and escort vehicles which are not required for larger, more dangerous trucks, or risk the cut off of Federal highway funds.While some modification to roads and bridges may be necessary to accommodate safer short-haul intermodal trucks,the cost is insignificant compared to the savings that will accrue from reducing the excessive wear and tear on the National Highway System caused by obsolete long haul trucks and their associated high rate of death and injury.

SEC. 3. VEHICLE WEIGHT LIMITATIONS.

Section 127 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(h) EXCEPTION.—
     “(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a state may allow a single unit truck or bus without a trailer to carry up 20 metric tons or 44,080 pounds of cargo, packaging, and load securement materials regardless of the overall weight of the vehicle, its axle weights, or the weight of its safety and energy conservation devices...

     {Section 127 paragraph (a) limits the overall gross weight of trucks to 80,000 pounds except in some grandfathered states where higher weight limits are allowed.  Because the weight of truck cargo is not regulated, this overall limit on gross weight has an effect of limiting the weight of safety equipment such as disc brakes, crash absorbent bumpers, roll bars, sway bars, and underride beams which are absent from most trucks.  Truckers are forced to operate dangerously lightweight vehicles prone to catastrophic failure in order to avoid overweight fines.

     Increasing the gross weight of trucks above 80,000 pounds will not improve safety if shippers are allowed to increase the weight of truck cargo at the same time as gross weight increases.  The Safer Truck Bill will allow safety minded truckers to carry a competitive amount of cargo compared to what less safe truckers carry by providing an exemption to the 80,000 pound limit on their truck’s gross weight to allow for additional safety equipment.

     The round figure of 20 metric tons is chosen as an arbitrary cargo weight limit to qualify for this exception so that international shippers familiar with metric weights will more easily be able to comply with this regulation and ship at competitive rates.  It is expected that trucking companies using safer technology will add surcharges to freight bills when obsolete or less safe vehicles must be used.}

...if the cargo is evenly distributed in a compartment or combined compartments at least 40 feet long,

     {International shipping containers commonly come in 20 foot and 40 foot lengths.  If the cargo is not evenly distributed inside the containers, some axles of the truck may be overloaded.  Trucks carrying a single 20 foot container will not be allowed to utilize this exception to overall weight limits.}

...the overall height of the vehicle and cargo does not exceed the width of the wheelbase,

     {The primary goal of the Safer Truck Bill is to discourage the manufacture and operation of top-heavy vehicles.}

...the axles are positioned at the extreme ends of the vehicle,

     {A secondary goal of the Safer Truck Bill is to discourage the manufacture and operation of long articulated vehicles that lack maneuverability and crash avoidance ability.  Non articulated single unit trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds with a length of only 50 feet may increase wear and tear on some bridges.  This will not be a problem so long as the safer trucks are few in number and have advanced computer controlled suspensions to reduce vibrations and pavement duty cycles, but as they proliferate, many bridges and some large culverts may need replacement.  The cost of replacing such bridges is irrelevant because the wider wheelbase and advanced suspensions of the safer trucks will reduce wear and tear on ordinary pavement resulting in an overall cost savings.  Nevertheless, positioning the axles at the extreme ends of the vehicle will minimize the number of bridges that will need to be replaced as well as enhancing maneuverability.}

...the gross weight and certified empty weight of the vehicle (including detachable cargo compartments) are marked conspicuously on the front of the vehicle with contrasting 3 inch or taller letters and numbers.

     {States will be encouraged to levy fines on operators who misstate the empty weight of their trucks.  Because different types of shipping containers differ in weight and because two 20 foot containers of the same type weigh more than a single 40 foot container of the same type and because there is a safety benefit to allowing heavy duty containers that prevent hazardous cargo spills and loss of cargo at sea, the empty weight of a truck may vary depending upon the type of cargo it is equipped to carry.  To make enforcement easier, drivers will be required to post a placard or electronic device on the front bumper displaying the allowable weights of the truck container combination.  Enforcement officers will be able to detect violations by compiling a database of empty truck weights and inspecting trucks that exhibit unexplained changes in empty weight such as when a false bottom container is used to transport illicit cargo.  Operators must be discouraged from removing regenerative braking batteries in order to carry illegally heavy amounts of cargo because this would affect the performance and safety of their vehicles.}

(2) CALCULATION OF GROSS WEIGHT.—For the purposes of this subsection, the gross weight shall be calculated by adding 20 metric tons or 44,080 pounds to the empty weight.”.

SEC. 4. VEHICLE WIDTH LIMITATIONS

Section 31113(b) of title 49 United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

“(b) EXCLUSION OF SAFETY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION DEVICES.—
     “(1) ENERGY CONSERVATION DEVICES.—Width calculated under this section does not include an energy conservation device the Secretary decides is necessary for safe and efficient operation of a commercial motor vehicle.
     “(2) SAFETY DEVICES.—
          “(A) IN GENERAL.—A safety device that reduces the possibility of death and injury shall not be included in the calculation of width for the purposes of this section if such device fits entirely within the travel lanes of all roads upon which
the vehicle operates.

     {The current section 31113 paragraph (b) excludes from width restrictions only those safety devices the “Secretary decides is necessary for safe and efficient operation of a commercial motor vehicle.”  While there is some precedent in other industries for a peer review process that would evaluate the efficacy of life saving devices, there is no precedent for political appointees with little or no professional competence to arbitrarily interfere with the personal safety decisions of skilled professionals to protect themselves from the hazards of the workplace.  This would seem to violate equal protection and First and Fifth Amendment theories concerning a right to safety (i.e. the government may require safety equipment, but not prohibit it).  The Safer Truck Bill shall exempt safety equipment from regulation at the Federal level as long as such devices fit within normal travel lanes.

     Under most existing state reckless driving laws, vehicle operators who are not competent to keep their vehicles within their lanes are subject to arrest, regardless of their vehicle's width.  Commercial drivers licenses are normally suspended on the third such offense.  The decision of states to allow or to prohibit wider safety devices should be made on the basis of each individual driver's ability to safely operate such equipment, not on the basis of a blanket restriction that would violate the rights of drivers proven to possess such skills to safety in the workplace.  Any safety device can become a hazard if it is driven into oncoming traffic.  To balance the rights of skilled professionals with those of other highway users, states should enact testing procedures to determine competency to drive over width vehicles.}

          “(B) SAFETY DEVICE DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘safety device’ includes mirrors, grab handles, steps, rearview video cameras, crash absorbent bumpers and body panels, batteries for regenerative braking, wheels, tires, structural members, batteries, and drive train components positioned to enhance vehicle stability.”.

     {Rear view video cameras offer a wider clearer view than mirrors and they are more durable in case of impact than glass, so they are also more reliable.  Most importantly, they do not blind the driver at night as rear view mirrors do.  Unlike mirrors, video cameras must be mounted on a solid structure that prevents vibration and shelters the lens from rain and spray.

     Fourteen percent (14%) of truck related fatalities (over 500 deaths) resulted from vehicles striking the sides of trucks in 1999. ‡  Two thirds (66%) of two vehicle truck fatalities involved a collision with the front of the truck.   While crash absorbent bumpers and body panels and better brakes will prevent some of this carnage, the greatest saving of life and limb can be achieved by lowering truck centers of gravity so that truckers will be able to maneuver out of the way of reckless motorists and drive off the road when necessary without fear of rolling over.  Nearly nine out of ten head on collisions with trucks (89%) are believed to be the fault of the motorist (according to a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study).  If such figures are correct, the vast majority of fatal truck collisions can be prevented by legalizing more maneuverable truck designs.

    More than one sixth of truck fatalities (17%) involved a collision with a truck’s rear cargo deck.  ‡  Unlike other parts of the truck, the rear cargo deck cannot be protected with crash absorbent material without jeopardizing the safety of fork lift operators who must drive into the trucks to unload them.  The only way to make the backs of trucks safe is to lower the cargo deck below the front bumpers of cars so that car bumpers will strike a naturally crash absorbent component of the truck such as the rear cargo doors.  In order to lower a truck’s center of gravity and its cargo deck, it is necessary that the rear tires be installed beside the cargo compartment rather than underneath it.  It is not mechanically possible to fit adequately sized truck tires beside a 102 inch wide container without a wheelbase of at least ten feet.  Mirrors on trucks must currently be mounted at least 9½ feet apart in order for truckers to see around 102 inch wide cargo containers.  Because wider wheel bases enhance stability and maneuverability, there is no safety advantage to limiting the wheel bases of trucks when other safety equipment is required to be equally wide.

     The main argument against wider trucks is that if crash absorbent material is positioned closer to reckless motorists as they attempt to pass, minor collisions between cars and trucks will be more likely.  In 1999, less than one percent of truck related fatalities resulted from same direction sideswipes. ‡  Up to 14% of all truck related fatalities can be prevented by installing crash absorbent material on the sides of the trucks. ‡  While additional width might double the proportion of preventable head on collision fatalities from 4% to 8% of the total large truck fatalities in a future year, the additional maneuverability resulting from a lower center of gravity will probably reduce the proportion of head on fatalities caused by motorists from the current 25% of total truck fatalities to less than 10%.

     Approximately 2000 lives per year will be saved by legalizing modern heavy truck safety technology if the miles driven by cars and trucks remain constant.  Because the the Safer Truck Bill also legalizes a new intermodal technology, the greatest savings in lives and property may result, not from safety features, but by eliminating long haul trucks from the highways completely in favor of a more efficient rail distribution system.

     Highly volatile environmentally safe fuels such as compressed natural gas cannot safely be used by existing top heavy trucks because of the danger of a fuel air explosion after a collision or roll over.  Any collision severe enough to kill a truck driver is also severe enough to rupture a compressed fuel tank.  There are more than 700 such collisions each year.  Even if such explosions killed less than a dozen people each, the number of large truck fatalities would significantly increase if alternative fuels were used.  The Safer Truck Bill will legalize technology compatible with alternative fuels.

     It is hoped that the additional difficulty in driving and parking wider safer trucks will result in an increased standard of competence for truck drivers and that deficient performance resulting from inadequate training will be more apparent to law enforcement officials.  The current hours-of-service debate concerning the number of hours truckers should be allowed to drive without resting will be rendered moot by this new technology.  Truckers will become too fatigued to keep an eleven foot wide truck in a twelve foot lane long before they are likely to fall asleep at the wheel.  These safer trucks will be driven mainly by local truckers who are able to return home for adequate rest every night rather than spending weeks on the road without their families.  By making trucks more difficult to drive and by improving the quality of life for truckers, passage of this Safer Truck Bill will result, not only in safer trucks, but in safer truck drivers.}

‡ Traffic Safety Facts 1999, Large Trucks (DOT HS 809 088), page two