No Bigger Trucks Maryland Fire Chief Tells Congress

December 6, 2011 – H. Edward Woods, Legislative Director of the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association, was on Capitol Hill today with a simple message for Congress: Marylanders and other motorists should not be forced to share the road with bigger, more dangerous trucks.

Chief Woods travelled to Washington to join other first responders and law enforcement leaders to speak out against proposals in Congress that would increase maximum truck weights and remove current restrictions on triple trailer trucks and other “longer combination vehicles” (LCVs.

Truck weights are currently capped at 80,000 pounds on Interstates in Maryland and most other states to preserve safety and infrastructure. Legislation before Congress would raise maximum truck weights as much as 20 percent, topping out at 100,000 pounds. Some of the nation’s largest and most powerful trucking companies are also lobbying to lift a 20-year-old “freeze” that strictly limits operations of triple trailer trucks and other LCVs.

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