COLUMBUS – Colonel Paul D. McClellan, superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, testified today before the House Transportation and Public Safety Committee in opposition to House Bill 186 that would raise the interstate speed limit for trucks to 65 miles per hour.

“This legislation would raise truck speed limits in Ohio to an historic high,” Colonel McClellan said. “The Patrol opposes this legislation based on the rise in fatalities in states with higher truck speed limits, an increase in traffic on Ohio’s roadways, and the inherent safety risks facing Ohio’s motorists.”

Nationally, the percentage of trucks involved in fatal crashes increased from 7.9 percent to 8.5 percent over the first five years after the national maximum speed limit was lifted in 1996. Thirty-three states that have raised truck speed limits experienced an increase in fatal crashes involving large trucks.

Ohio, Michigan, and Oregon, three states that have maintained the 55-mph speed limit for trucks, have documented decreases in fatal truck crashes during that same time period. In Ohio, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes fell 20 percent from 201 in 1995 to 161 in 2001.

During his testimony, Colonel McClellan stated 74 percent of citations issued on rural interstates to truck drivers by the Patrol have been for violations of 66-mph and above, while 2,500 violations have been for 75-mph or more.

“There is no statistical evidence that the current speed limit for trucks in Ohio is unsafe,” Colonel McClellan said. “The speed limit in Ohio has never been set at 65 mph for trucks, even 30 years ago when truck volumes were a fraction of what they are today.”

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Editor’s Note: For more information on the Patrol’s statement on House Bill 186, visit the Patrol’s Web site at www.state.oh.us/ohiostatepatrol/legislative.htm.

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