Bigger trucks safer
The BDN is right to insist, as it did in a Nov. 30 editorial, that safety concerns be addressed before Congress gives approval to longer trucks on interstates, but as it turns out, legislation backed by Sen. Susan Collins to modestly extend the length of twin 28-foot trailers by five feet has, in fact, been thoroughly studied and found to be safe.
Seventeen years ago, at the behest of Congress, the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies embarked on a major study of trucking regulations. The Transportation Research Board’s report concluded twin 33-foot trailers would make freight trucking more efficient and reduce the cost of truck traffic on the public.
Since then, twin 33s have endured years of testing in Canada and select U.S. markets, including on the 315-mile Florida Turnpike, the nation’s third-most travelled toll road. In the five years since the Florida pilot program began, twin-33s have accumulated nearly 1.5 million, accident-free miles.
John Woodrooffe, a renowned trucking expert at the University of Michigan, finds that twin 33-foot trailers, because of their longer wheelbase, are “inherently more stable” and safer than twin 28s.
Proposed changes in trucking policy must be adequately studied before they become law, but if the goal is to make highways safer by reducing truck congestion, Congress shouldn’t subject this very reasonable proposal to endless and redundant studies that fail to serve any legitimate public safety function.
Mark Rosenker
Former chairman
National Transportation Safety Board
Senior advisor
Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking
Washington, D.C.
Getting the right help
I have never been addicted to drugs and therefore never had to go through recovery. I am, however, a volunteer for a local organization that supports recovery. What I have found is that in Greater Bangor there are at least a half dozen organizations that have outreach programs for this population. Most have websites and Facebook pages.
As I looked at all of them, I began to wonder: How does a person wanting help find the right resource with so many to choose from? How to they get there? Many people don’t have transportation. Do these organizations work together to help people find the right place for them or is it a competition for souls?
These organizations are fighting for funds, grants and volunteers. By default, that fact must lead to competition. That would lead me to believe that some are not quick to send a prospect to another organization that might better fit his or her needs. In other words, these organizations should mention all of the options out there, not just theirs. It must be like moving into a new area and trying to find the right church.
Perhaps there should be a monthly meeting of the heads of these organizations to work together along these lines rather than not even mention other options. People should be the prime focus, not building numbers for a spreadsheet to justify and ask for more funding. That will come if they all do their job right and people who need help the most will find the right support structure for them.
David Winslow
Brewer
Don’t sensationalize shootings
Why is it that the media cannot understand that the way they cover these mass shooting tragedies is one of the underlying causes of their occurrences? These people that are so demented that they are willing to die in order to kill large numbers of people in one attack know that for the next few days they will be famous. Their acts will be covered wall-to-wall, 24/7. Everyone will know their names, they will be examples for other demented people to garner that same notoriety. Leaders can even use the coverage to recruit others to their cause, if they have one.
It would help if the media would simply report the fact that the horrible event happened and then move on. Do not give the name of the shooters or extensively cover the event. We do not need to know every gory detail of such events nor even the motive.
The sensational coverage of these events is part of what others want to copy. They also want to be famous. This is only part of the equation, but one that could be corrected rather easily. Why is that so clear to me but missed by the media? Why not eliminate the sensationalism?
I forgot, it doesn’t fit the political narrative of gun control. How could I be so delusional to think that actual solutions would be enacted?
Bob Mercer
Bucksport