NYSACOP Letter of Support - Coalition Against Big Trucks (CABT)

The New York State Association of Chiefs of Police (NYSACOP) believes that traffic safety is an important component of public safety. Traffic crashes cause deaths, injuries and economic losses in our communities and NYSACOP, and our members, constantly work to reduce crashes and the negative impact that they cause.

NYSACOP is opposed to national increases in commercial truck size and weight, including current legislative attempts to increase the maximum weight of single- trailer trucks to 97,000 pounds (H.R. 8412) and to increase the length of twin- trailer trucks by a total of 10 feet (H.R. 8411).

We believe that increasing truck weights and allowing longer trucks on our roadways will make our roads less safe for both the motoring public and law enforcement personnel who patrol our roads and investigate crashes. Operating characteristics including higher braking and out-of-service violations, decreased stability, higher “rollover” potential, along with longer stopping distances will inevitably add up to more crashes, traffic chaos and lost lives on our roads. All of these safety concerns were accounted for in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) report to Congress in 2016.

Protecting the public and first responders is mission critical. As such, we stand with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in opposition to any of these increases in truck weight and length.

Patrick D. Phelan
Executive Director

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