Letter to the Editor: I-81 Toll Fight
nce again, Transport Topics, American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association have blasted the idea of charging toll for trucks in Virginia on Interstate 81. (Click here for previous coverage.)
While the general concept of charging tolls on an interstate highway for trucks only is a form of discrimination and therefore something to be challenged, why don’t ATA and VTA work with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the various truck drivers who use I-81 to alleviate the problem that is causing Virginia to consider this bold move in the first place?
I live in the Shenandoah Valley and use I-81 occasionally. I say “occasionally” because most people who live near I-81 are afraid to use it because of the heavy truck traffic and the way many of those truck drivers operate on the interstate.
In the trucking industry, we try to blame four-wheelers whenever possible. We point to the need for driver education, pat ourselves on the back, and say that truck drivers are professional drivers and better educated in driving.
Yet, how many professional truck drivers go out on I-81 in Virginia and attempt to drive significantly above the posted and safe speed limits? How many of these “safe professional drivers” tailgate four-wheelers or even other 18-wheelers in either lane of I-81?
How much of this is done to intimidate other drivers into getting out of their way or off the road?
I have been traveling on I-81 between Winchester and Harrisonburg at the average speed of the traffic and have had to slow down significantly in the left lane going uphill because of a truck that should not have been in that lane at that point, only to encounter that same truck driver traveling 10 mph or more above the average on the downhill and flashing for anyone in front of him to move out of the lane — even though he would not or could not do this when going up the front side.
You say this is an isolated incident and a few bad drivers, but I say that the percentages may be low, but with the high number of vehicles using this highway, even a low percentage is a lot of drivers.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is trying to make I-81 a safe highway for everyone to share. So what are the choices? They could add lanes to the road or add strict enforcement of speed limits and other driving rules.
But either way, there is a cost burden and with the economy and tax revenue insufficient to pay for this, who better to spread the cost to than the people who are perceived to be the problem in the first place? It may be a few bad drivers, but those few bad drivers are responsible for the sentiment of the residents of the valley and therefore their elected representatives.
If the trucking industry and professional drivers would police themselves and drive in a responsible and safe manner with the other drivers on Virginia’s highways, Virginia would not be looking to the trucking industry to carry the burden of the cost to make the highways safer. It is those same scofflaws who cry the loudest that they are being unfairly singled out.
William Stewart
i>ATA Private Carrier Member
tephens City, Va.
This letter appears in the May 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
