Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990 TAG: 9007100415
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Are top officials in Virginia, including the governor, telling the state police to lay off the truckers because they pay so much in taxes? (Their taxes do not cover the cost of damage to our highways caused by heavy trucks.)
It is especially dangerous to drive Interstate 81 in the rain because the spray from the trucks completely covers your windshield and results in your driving blind for many seconds.
It has been my observation that common carriers such as Roadway, Carolina, J.B. Hunt and North American come closer to observing the truck speed limit. The rest seem typical of those quoted in a story in your paper Feb. 8, 1988: "They [the truckers] say they speed now, they are going to keep speeding . . . " and " . . . drivers point out that the new law [55 mph for trucks] probably wouldn't change anything."
"Trucks make their own laws," said a trucker, "until they get caught." How true this has turned out to be.
I too get angry as hell that these trucks are getting away with breaking the law. I only hope enough people will protest this dangerous situation, causing the state to put a stop to it.
\ C.C. MANNING JR.\ ROANOKE
by CNB