This news story originally provided by The Lexington Herald-Leader

March 10, 2005

Dead in its tracks

Truck bill's gone, but danger still on roads

We congratulate the state House of Representatives on killing, for now, the bill that would have increased the number of trucks carrying 60 tons of weight on Kentucky roads. It was a bad bill that would harm many and kill some for the benefit of a very few.

It is still too soon to pop corks, though. We're not convinced the forces that pushed HB 8 forward will rest. The legislature and the governor must remain vigilant and steadfast in keeping it out of Kentucky's statutes.

Even without this bill, people are being killed unnecessarily on Kentucky roads when they collide with overloaded coal trucks.

Since 2000, at least 54 people have died and 536 have been injured in accidents with trucks licensed to haul coal, according to federal Department of Transportation data.

The most recent to die was Lonnie Preece, 55, of Inez, who was killed Monday when a coal truck carrying more than 150,000 pounds veered into the lane where he was driving his pickup and struck it head on, according to a police report. The coal truck was designed to handle 80,000 pounds, and the road it was traveling was rated for 60,000 pounds, Kentucky State Police said.

The driver of the truck that struck Preece was cited on suspicion of driving an overweight truck, a violation that can result in a fine of hundreds of dollars. No criminal charges have been lodged.

It's hard to imagine there is any reason beyond money to carry almost double what a truck is designed to handle, and two and a half times what the law allows. Heavier loads mean fewer loads and less time, all of which sum up to money saved hauling coal.

That might mean it costs us a little less to heat our homes, that haulers get paid a little better or simply that coal companies have higher profits. Not one of those is reason enough to risk, or take, a human life.

It is not our place to say what charges should be brought against the driver; the justice system must run its course.

We will say it is clear that blame in this and other similar deaths can't fall on the shoulders of just one driver. Kentucky has nurtured a system that causes accidents like this.

A coal company had to load those tens of thousands of pounds of extra weight into the truck. Only a history of ineffective enforcement would encourage a driver to set out in full daylight on a Monday morning with a hugely illegal load. Fines of $60 up to a few hundred don't give a clear message of what's at stake.

Finally, there is the legislature that gave coal haulers an exemption to carry 20 tons more than other trucks. That same body came dangerously close this session to extending that exemption to gravel, sand and other natural resources.

Turning back HB 8 was a good thing. Better yet would be to re-examine a system that puts so little value on the lives of people driving our roads.