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OOIDA Call to Action - Oregon Members
May 18, 2005
Attention: Oregon truckers! You need to contact your state representatives about a bill that could widen the speed gap for cars and trucks on rural interstate highways. It is important he/she understand there is a flaw in the 85th percentile study used to determine safe speeds from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The bill - HB3252 - would allow for truck speed limits to increase from 55 mph to 65 mph while increasing car speeds from 65 mph to 70 mph on certain sections of highways.
However, it leaves the door open for car speeds to increase while truck speeds stay the same.
The latest version of the speed limit bill differs from an earlier one in that a rate lower than 65 mph could be posted for tractor-trailers and other large vehicles if safety conditions warrant a slower speed.
As a result, the Oregon Transportation Commission would have the option of setting a 65, 60 or 55 mph limit for trucks. They did not have this flexibility in the first bill.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed that measure into law in 2003. However, a study conducted by the Transportation Commission later advised against boosting the current speed limit for cars and trucks on rural interstates.
The study said that while it was reasonable to raise car limits to 70 mph, "the engineering analysis supports a speed limit of 60 mph for trucks and not a higher limit."
Because the two speeds were linked in the new law, the commission decided not to bump the limits.
Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the study's recommendation doesn't hold water.
"The only speed limit policy in any state that makes any safety sense is to have a uniform speed limit. When you look carefully at any argument to the contrary, they lack merit," Spencer said.
He said the rationale used by the Oregon Transportation Department in determining trucks shouldn't have a uniform limit with cars was based on their interpretation of 85th percentile speeds.
"While 85th percentile speeds are the correct way to set speed limits they also have to reflect reality of compliance with existing speed limits," Spencer said. "Basically, what their study showed is that many truckers in Oregon do comply with the lower speed limit even though it isn't the safest speed limit.
"The study DOT used was itself flawed in that there is a split speed limit in the state."
Spencer said their study measured compliance with existing speed limits more so than it did an 85th percentile of a reasonable speed policy.
"Had there been a uniform speed limit when they did the study or had there been no speed limit at all, what they would have found would have shown very little difference between truck speeds and car speeds based on 85th percentile. That would have been a legitimate way to set speed policy."
HB3252 passed the House Transportation Committee May 6. Its next stop is the full House for consideration.
Lawmakers, by and large, base their decisions on information presented to them. That is why it is important to contact your representative about this speed limit effort. It is vital the flaw in ODOT's study be pointed out to them.
For contact information, visit www.leg.state.or.us/house/. Click on "Representative Information." You can also call OOIDA's Membership Department at 1-800-444-5791 and they'll look it up for you.