Dallas-area drivers know about the high volume of truck traffic on interstates 20, 30 and 35 and have experienced significant delays due to accidents and construction. It is no surprise to any of us that vehicle travel on Texas highways increased by 23 percent from 2000 to 2016, a full 7 percentage points higher than the national average increase.

We expect congestion on certain roads at certain times of the day and we try to plan accordingly. What we cannot anticipate, other than trying to be the safest drivers we can be, are traffic accidents.

The big commercial trucks found on our interstates and on many local roads provide a necessary economic service. However, mixing these big commercial trucks with our much smaller and lighter personal vehicles can cause real safety concerns.

There were 16,124 large-truck crashes in Texas in 2017, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This crash rate is 7 percent higher than the previous year, a disturbing trend.

As chief of police for Duncanville, it is my job to help ensure that our residents and our officers are safe on our city streets. To that end, I oppose any legislation that would put heavier or longer trucks into our traffic mix. In this opposition, I am joined by the Texas Police Chiefs Association and the North Texas Police Chiefs Association, both of which I am a member.

Traffic was routed off Interstate 35E as Texas Department of Transportation employees worked to clean up after a truck transporting rocks was involved in a crash on Sept. 7. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

At the most basic level, heavier and longer trucks will tend to make accidents more severe. Longer double trucks are more difficult to pass in many situations, such as while merging into moving traffic or during a rainstorm as they splash water onto cars' windshields, and they have a longer stopping distance than the double trailers they would replace. Heavier trucks tend to wear out their safety equipment sooner — vital safety equipment such as brakes and tires.

Over the past few years, lobbyists for some of the largest shipping companies have spent a great deal of time and money trying to persuade members of Congress to either allow or mandate heavier or longer trucks. I have written letters to our federal delegation in opposition to any such legislation in the past, and I remain firmly convinced that from a safety standpoint, this is a bad idea — and bad public policy.

As a law enforcement professional, I know from experience that heavier trucks at 91,000 pounds (an increase of 11,000 pounds) or longer double trailer trucks (10 feet longer) will put more motorists at an increased risk. The cost savings to a few large shipping companies is just not worth the cost these bigger trucks would exact on our driving safety.

Robert Brown is chief of police in Duncanville. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

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