Dick Hall is a person worth listening to when it comes to transportation issues not just in Mississippi but across the country.
The Republican transportation commissioner was one of the early officials to sound the alarm about the state’s shortchanging of road and bridge maintenance. He was and still is one of the few in the GOP to buck his party’s ideology and call for an increase in the fuel tax to pay for addressing the problem.
He is also warning about a proposal, still alive in Congress, to increase the weight and length limits on the 18-wheelers that drive the nation’s highways.
In an op-ed published on May 13 in the Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Hall says that longer double-trailer trucks would increase the number of driving fatalities and accelerate the deterioration of roads and bridges.
He is absolutely correct.
Such super-long rigs will reduce visibility and pack more force into any collision they have. Legalizing them would be a recipe for disaster.
Greenwood Commonwealth
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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