March 12th, 2012 | 
Author: By a vote of 5 to 4 committee vote, the Idaho Senate rejected Senator Jim Hammond’s proposal to raise the trucking speed limit to 75 mph. Hammond proposed the theory that it would actually be safer by having all vehicles, including big-rigs, semi tractors, 18 wheelers, etc., drive the same speed limit. This, he said, would “eliminate a lot of lane changes.”
Most Idaho wrongful deaths in trucking accidents are due to the large trucks and their weight being so devastating in an accident. Hammond’s bill would not just have applied to Interstate 15, Interstate 84, Interstate 86 and Interstate 90 but also to Idaho’s other state highways such as Idaho 8, 41, 14 and 71.
For an 18 wheeler weighing 80,000 lbs, the difference between 65 mph and 75 mph is a 14 percent increase in speed, but it results in a nearly 25 percent increase in energy. For example a tandem big-rig can weigh up to 54 tons; if it is going 65 mph, that produces over 20 million foot-pounds of killing energy when involved in an Idaho trucking accident. Such energy most assuredly will easily produce an Idaho fatal accident.
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Idaho Trucking Information
Published by Houston truck accident lawyer Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP
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