A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 11
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
Accident Patterns Differ for Trucks
A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals that commercial vehicles get in fewer single-vehicle crashes but more multiple-vehicle crashes per mile as compared to passenger vehicles.The study says that large commercial trucks comprise 3% of the vehicles on the road and account for 7% of all miles driven but are involved in 22% of crashes in which a person in a passenger vehicle is killed; 98% of the fatal crashes between a truck and passenger vehicle result in the death of someone in the passenger vehicle, according to the study.
The American Insurance Association says that commercial trucking accidents cost about $15 billion annually, with a large part of the bill paid by employers for liability claims, increased insurance costs and lost work time. Journal of Commerce (08/11/99) P. 8
Minority Favors More Spending on Roads
Although Democrats running for the Virginia legislature have proposed more transportation spending, half of those answering this year's Quality of Life survey conducted by Virginia Tech say the state's transportation funding is at the proper level.A tenth of the respondents say the state's transportation funding is too high. Percentages of people in urbanized areas from Northern Virginia to Tidewater responding likewise were 47% and 9%, respectively.
Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat trying to unseat James H. Dillard II, a Republican delegate from Fairfax County, said she was "shocked," adding that she had "walked into over 4,000 houses and been speaking with people every day, and that's what they're concerned about."
However, Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax) says the survey seems to be in line with polls, in which he says 55% of people are against tax hikes for road funding.
The poll is evidence for Republican Gov. James S. Gilmore III's plan to overcome highway crowding while keeping tax rates level, says a spokesman for Gilmore, who got a positive rating from three-quarters of respondents.
Democratic campaigns are emphasizing funding transportation with changes in tax-money spending and projected budget surpluses, while Republicans want to use nonrecurring-cost revenue.
According to the poll numbers, Virginians are mostly interested in education, which Dillard says is in line from what he has heard.
But Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) and Sen. Jane Woods (R-Fairfax) both speculate that the numbers may have been different if the survey covered all transportation funding rather than just roads.
A 1997 poll showed 59% support for then-current funding levels and 7.9% saying the levels were to high, while last year the numbers were about the same as the 1999 percentages. Washington Times (08/11/99) P. C6; Dinan, Stephen
Lines May Leave Due to Strike
As congestion at the Port of Vancouver continues to increase due to the two-week strike by independent port truckers, shipping lines have started to send Vancouver-bound cargo to U.S. ports instead.Norasia Line is among the companies considering making the switch, which includes companies for which Vancouver is the first port of call for ships carrying Asian cargo going to North American destinations.
Norasia's North America general manager Steve Toppings says his company could switch to ports in Oregon or Washington in under two weeks if necessary.
China Ocean Shipping Co. is also mulling over possible changes, while Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co. intends to keep its business with Vancouver.
Earlier this year, Vancouver partnered with trans-Pacific carriers and Canadian rail carriers to offer cut-rate intermodal service to eastern Canada and the United States. The striking truckers turned down last week's offers of $50 more for each move, offered by the trucking companies, and a temporary $30 extra for each container, offered by the port.
Executives at the port sat down with carriers and the operators of the terminals on Monday to talk about bettering truckers' working conditions and lengthening gate hours. That same day, the Port of Seattle found more than 50 Canadian-export containers that had been sent across the U.S. border for shipment from Seattle.
The strike's main effect is on exports as well as imports destined for the Vancouver region, since imports going farther away are handled at railyards at the dock. But other railyards in the area, as well as the harbor in general, are feeling the squeeze of congestion.
Some U.S. companies are paying attention to the Vancouver problem since it is reminiscent of 1990s situations at Los Angeles-Long Beach and Seattle. Many harbor truckers on the West Coast are new immigrants who work as entry-level owner-operators, who, trucking companies say, can earn very little since importers are always lowering their payments to the trucking companies. Fleet Owner (07/99) Vol. 94, No. 7, P. 18; Mele, Jim
Truck Traffic
The volume of truck traffic across the Lewiston-Queenston, Peace, Rainbow, and Whirlpool Rapids bridges between New York and Ontario totaled 640,967 in the second quarter of 1999, up 8.7% from the same period a year earlier.Furthermore, the volume was up 36.4% from the second-quarter average between 1993 and 1995. Never before have all three months of one quarter had monthly truck volumes above 200,000. Business First of Buffalo Online (08/09/99); Thomas, G. Scott
© copyright 1999 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
