By SONYA COLBERG NewsOK.com
Published: 7/5/2009 2:29 AM
Last Modified: 7/5/2009 3:55 AM
A
trucking safety group wants big rigs restricted because of the deadly
seven- vehicle pileup on the Will Rogers Turnpike a week ago.
Support for speed restrictions is coming from a surprising source: the American Trucking Association.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority on Thursday defended the
visibility and construction of the turnpike where Oklahoma Highway
Patrol officials said a tractor-trailer rig crashed into a line of cars
stopped for an accident. Ten people died.
"We don't have any concern for visibility," authority spokesman Jack Damrill said.
Federal standards determine turnpike construction and speed, he said.
Eric Guy questioned the highway construction of the accident
area, north of Miami, Okla., where he's traveled during his 15 years as
a truck driver.
"It's hilly. If you're driving an 80-ton vehicle where that
line was, it would be hard to stop on a dime," he said. "It was like a
full-loaded freight train barreling down the track. They can't stop on
a dime, either."
The National Transportation Safety Board has had seven
investigators at the accident scene, a spokeswoman said. One
investigator, with the turnpike authority and highway engineers, looked
at roadway design plans, profiles and accident statistics.
Patrol reports say 76-year-old Donald Creed of Ash Grove, Mo., was
driving at an unsafe speed for traffic conditions when the accident
occurred. The speed limit there is 75 mph.
More than 6,000 5- and 6-axle
trucks daily took that stretch of turnpike in 2008, the authority's
most recent figures show. More than twice that many cars, 13,687, drove
along that stretch.
Two sides agree
A nonprofit group, Road Safe America, said the wreck points to the need
for a national requirement that large trucks use electronic speed
governors set at 65 mph.
"How much longer and how many more deaths is it going to take
before the federal government takes action to require activation of
on-board electronic speed governors to keep the speed of these enormous
vehicles down to a reasonable 65 mph?" co-founder Stephen Owings said
in a statement.
The American Trucking Association supports legislation requiring the maximum 65 mph, said spokesman Clayton Boyce.
He said about 70 percent of the association's truck governors are set at 65 mph or below.
The association supports a national speed limit for all
vehicles of 65 mph. Limiting trucks to 65 mph while cars could go 70 or
75 mph wouldn't be a sound idea, Boyce said.
Owings also wants a closer look at when truck drivers should stop driving.
The reports
Creed, who is out of the hospital, had a clean driving record before the accident.
National Transportation Safety Board reports typically take many months to complete.
The district attorney is waiting for the highway patrol report,
expected to take about three weeks, before deciding on whether to file
misdemeanor negligent homicide charges on Creed.
Posted on
Sun, July 5, 2009
by Crystal Drwenski