Schumer: “70 percent of the companies do this voluntarily”
VAILS GATE – Three months after the latest deadly crash involving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 84, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is calling for mandatory speed limiting devices on large trucks and buses.
Schumer, in Vails Gate on Friday, called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to swiftly finalize a proposed rule that would require the devices in large trucks and buses over 26,000 pounds.
“According to the American Trucking Association, 70 percent of the companies do this voluntarily; it saves them money because they don’t have crashes, but, the bad apples spoil the bunch,” the senator said. And, the individual truck drivers like it because they are obeying the limits and are driving safely, but one of their competitors is driving fast and they get the contract.”
Schumer said requiring all trucks to have the devices levels the playing field and removes one incentive to drive too fast.
State Assemblyman James Skoufis, whose district includes the scene of the July crash, said it makes sense, and applies to more than just the superhighways.
“We have trucks on 87, we have trucks on 17, we have trucks on 84, but we also have even trucks on our local roads here,” Skoufis noted. “Trucks leave early on in Sloatsburg to avoid the tolls in Harriman and actually drive up Route 32, before they get back on the Thruway.”
Schumer, Skoufis, and local officials made their plea at a truck repair facility on Route 32, standing in front of the big rig that caused the July crash, near Exit 5, that killed one, injured several others and involved several vehicles in a chain reaction.
