Trucks have gotten heavier and heavier over the years, as well. In 1927, the truck weight limits were set at 40,000 pounds. That limit rose to 61,500 pounds in 1949 and to 73,000 in 1974. Now trucks weighing more than80,000 pounds travel our Interstate highways. These increases in truck sizes and weights have profound implications for the motoring public.
Longer trucks are harder to control.
They are more vulnerable to cross winds and need more room to make turns. Heavier trucks need more stopping distance, have a greater risk of tipping over, and, in a collision, inflict more damage and injury. In 1997, crashes involving large trucks killed 5,355 people and injured 133,000. In the latest five years for which data is available, crashes involving large trucks have killed more than 25,000 people and injured more than 640,000. That averages out to 14 deaths and 35 injuries a day, every day of the year.