Regarding Joan Beck’s “Supertrucks unsafe on any highway” (Op-Ed, July 24): I could not agree more with her if I had written every word.
We currently have a huge rock slide in western North Carolina that has closed Interstate Highway 40 between Asheville and Knoxville (Page 1, Aug. 20). The number and present size of the long-haul trucks that have been diverted onto state highways have created a major problem. Even with the best efforts of state officials to slow the trucks as they pass through this mountainous area, there is a least one wreck a day that blocks the highway and brings traffic to a stop.
With school starting, school buses must travel these truck-congested highways. There is a plan to have highway patrol cars escort each bus in hopes of preventing a major disaster, but given the safety record of the truckers using this road, I am not confident that we can prevent a major problem with our school buses.
In any case I am grateful for the commentary and hope you can influence legislators to limit the size of trucks and divert many of them to the railroad system.
