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Truck ban proposed in Penn

Penn Township was asked at a recent work session to join six area municipalities in adopting a resolution that would ban through-bound trucks on southern Chester County roads.

The municipalities who have adopted the resolution include Pennsbury, West Marlborough, London Grove, East Fallowfield, Highland and Londonderry townships.

The effort, spearheaded by an ad-hoc committee of representatives from 30 municipalities, is chaired by Londonderry Township resident John Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse is making the rounds to ask those 30 municipalities represented on the committee to consider the adoption of the ban.

At a Dec. 17 work session, Rittenhouse made that request of Penn Township.

Specifically, the ban would apply only to trucks that originate and conclude their trips outside of the area, he said. It would not extend to trucks having business within the 30-municipality area.

The ban would apply to tractor-trailers and two- and three-axle trucks. The ban would extend to routes 41, 841, 896, 796, 82, 842, 10, 926 and Strasburg Road. The committee’s primary concern throughout is safety, he said, not to hurt the trucking industry.

"These trucks are simply trying to avoid roads built to take them because of tolls, police, etc., so they are driving on roads built for cars ... It just doesn’t make sense to drive a locomotive on the same road as a car, and that’s basically what these things are," said Rittenhouse.

The idea for the truck ban, and the committee, began at a September 2002 meeting where the London Grove Township’s Board of Supervisors called for the ban on Route 41.

This committee is independent of Safety, Agriculture, Villages and Environment, the advocacy group for two-lane alternatives on Route 41, though according to SAVE Director Dee Durham, the committee did offer information to the group in a "supporting role."

As the committee looked for data regarding fatalities and accidents on Route 41 and the surrounding impacted routes to support their mission, it found that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had experienced a massive computer problem and had lost data.

Further inquiries to the Pennsylvania State Police at Avondale revealed that only statistics for the last year could be provided, but historical data was unavailable. Undaunted, the committee managed to come up with a government study that identified the states of Pennsylvania and Texas as the states with the highest incidences of truck accidents on state highways.

Moreover, the state routes in the area from U.S. Route 30 to the Delaware state line in Pennsylvania were specifically identified as one of the five areas in the U.S. with the highest incidence of truck accidents.

Rittenhouse addressed some of the issues that might prove to be problematic if the ban were adopted.

"Some people may say that the ban will hurt good truckers’ employment opportunities. ... Well, they don’t have enough good truckers to drive the rigs they have. A good number of rigs sit idle, so that kills the employment argument," said Rittenhouse.

A more problematic issue would be enforcement. The committee recommends hiring one or two enforcement officers to be trained and familiar with the trucks on the road.

"The Avondale State Police could do it, but they couldn’t guarantee consistency of assignment," said Rittenhouse. "The key would be to hire a guy and keep the same guy. If you do a good job with enforcement, you won’t be able to fund the position with tickets and fines because there won’t be any."

In concluding his presentation, Rittenhouse said, "There is no timeline. It is a political decision. It will ultimately end with the state legislature and lobbyists."

Penn Township chose to table the issue until February 2004, although township Secretary and Supervisor Bill Finnen said, "You’re going to have to go a long way to convince me. You don’t need to put another law out there to erode the rights of individuals."

© Daily Local News 2004