A scientific advisory panel recently reported that truck weight limit increases should be analyzed in greater depth before regulators approve them. The trucking industry has recently requested to allow trucks to move beyond the federal 80,000 lbs. weight limit but some highway departments and truckers worry that the increased weight limit would be a safety risk and would put even more wear and tear on an already stressed out road system.

The Transportation Research Board was asked to review this issue since last September and the report they produced generated 45 different areas that the panel would need to examine before making official recommendations.

Truck weight limits are an important guideline across the industry to minimize the chances of accidents from overloaded trucks. If you believe that a recent accident was caused because of a vehicle over the truck weight limit, you need help from a lawyer. 

These include determining whether the nation’s bridges can handle heavier and longer trucks and how increasing truck weight will affect overall traffic safety. The committee will be meeting again in late May and plans to issue a final report by early fall or the end of summer, but that won’t be a recommendation about whether or not to implement the limit. The truck weight limit is designed to ensure that trucks proceed safely on the roads and to give those people who believe that a truck has violated the limit, ample opportunity to file a lawsuit associated with liability.