INTERSTATES Truckers seek one speed for all

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says trucks need more time to stop.
DAYTON (AP) -- In the past four months, the semitrailers of four drivers for JET Express trucking company have been struck from behind by cars on interstate highways.
Jeff Davis, the company's vice president of safety, thinks the difference in speed limits -- 55 miles per hour for trucks and 65 mph for cars -- had something to do with it.
Ohio is one of 10 states that have split speed limits. A bill pending in the Legislature would raise the limit for trucks to 65 mph on interstates.
Fueling the legislation is concern about safety and finding ways to ease driving for truckers. However, the Ohio State Highway Patrol says there is no evidence that the 55 mph speed limit for trucks is unsafe.
"Highways will always be safest when all vehicles are traveling at the same speed," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. "You run into problems when you have vehicles going different speeds."
The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Lynn Wachtmann of Napoleon, said a uniform speed limit would help ease congestion and reduce road rage.
"You minimize the need for passing, lane changes, tailgating and other maneuvers that create opportunities for drivers to make mistakes," he said.
Patrol spokesman Lt. Rick Fambro said allowing trucks to go faster could cause more accidents because the heavy vehicles can't stop as quickly as cars.
"It's a matter of simple physics," he said.
Citations
If the speed limit were increased, he said, many truck drivers would go faster than 65 mph. The patrol said 74 percent of traffic tickets issued to truckers on Ohio interstates in 2001 were for going faster than 65 mph. And 2,500 citations were for going over 75 mph.
The bill is in the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee. Chairman Jeffry Armbruster said he wants to try the higher speed limits for three months on the Ohio Turnpike. He said the turnpike's cross-state length and limited access would be an ideal trial ground.
"If we get the turnpike to do it, we would hold the bill in the Senate," said Armbruster, a Republican from North Ridgeville.
The patrol doesn't like that idea, Fambro said.
"We don't support changing one of the safest roads in America by increasing the speed limit," he said.
Davis feels it's so important to have both sets of vehicles travel the same speed, he would support having a 55 mph speed limit for both.
"Maybe the cars need to come down," he said.
Bari Saul, who drives on Interstate 75 from her home in Cincinnati to her job in Dayton, opposes changing the speed limit.
"If they moved it up to 65, that would give the trucks leeway to go 70 to 75," Saul said. "Then it would get very dangerous."
Earlier this year, New Jersey flirted with reducing the speed limit for trucks from 65 mph to 55 mph after several deadly accidents. The N.J. Department of Transportation rejected the idea.
"Split speeds could work in a very open state, but we have a terribly congested roadway system," said Kris Kolluri, the department's chief of staff. "To have dual speeds would only exacerbate the problem."
Instead, the department is backing legislation that would double fines for those cited for speeding on certain highways that have higher-than-average accident rates.
Potential problem
Anand Desai, who has studied the causes of fatal highway crashes, believes having uniform speeds would reduce the chance of such accidents.
But 55 mph would be safer than 65 because motorists would have more time to try to avoid accidents, said Desai, an associate professor at Ohio State University's school of public policy and management.
Eric Skrum, spokesman for the National Motorists Association, said many studies have suggested that differences in speed are a major cause of accidents.
But he said if the speed limit for cars dropped to 55 mph on an interstate system designed for much higher speeds, many drivers would ignore it.