Vermont

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OOIDA Call to Action – Vermont members
January 28, 2010

Attention: Vermont truckers! A bill that soon could come up for consideration on the floor of the Vermont House is intended to reduce unnecessary idling of large trucks, but there are concerns that warrant a call to your state lawmaker.

The bill – H97 – would limit trucks that weigh more than 10,000 pounds to idling for no more than five minutes per hour. It calls for violators to face fines ranging from $10 to $100, depending on prior offenses.

The lone temperature exception wouldn’t kick in until the thermometer dips to 0 degrees. It is worth communicating to your House lawmaker that this is a ridiculously low temperature exception.

Other exceptions included in the bill make sense. They include situations when idling is necessary to protect or preserve cargo, while stuck in traffic, for maintenance work, and for trucks equipped with sleeper berths “for the purpose of air conditioning or heating during a rest or sleep period.”

In addition, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be in charge of setting additional “times or circumstances that reasonably require the idling of an engine.”

With the new idling restrictions being pursued in Vermont, one other point to communicate to lawmakers is the importance of planning to have incentive programs available for small-business truckers to easily purchase idle-reduction technologies.

Click here for your House lawmaker’s contact information. You can also call the OOIDA Membership Department at 800-444-5791 and they will look up the information for you