>By LARRY HIGGS
TRANSPORTATION WRITER
Drivers, including truckers, would have to clean snow and ice from their vehicles before hitting the road, under a bill released by the Assembly Transportation Committee on Monday.
The committee unanimously released an amended bill over protests by trucking industry representatives that the proposed requirement is unsafe for truck drivers and relies on technology they say doesn’t exist here.
“There are still problems. This could be the last straw for some (small) trucking companies,” said Sam Cunningham of Spring Lake, who handles government relations for the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers.
Safety experts said ice and snow flying off the tops of tractor-trailers and other large trucks is a hazard.
“We know that people have been killed and people have suffered property damage,” said Pam Fischer, state Division of Traffic Highway Safety director.
In a poll of 1,000 drivers by AAA clubs of New Jersey, seven of 10 motorists support such a law, which would allow police to pull over vehicles being driven with ice and snow on them or flying off them, said David Weinstein, AAA spokesman.
“What we’re talking about is 2,000 pounds of ice when they leave it there (on the roof of an 18-wheeler),” said William Margaretta, New Jersey Safety Council executive director. He referred to a transportation study provided by trucking industry officials saying that is the weight of an inch of snow and ice on a 48-foot-long trailer.
Trucking industry officials said federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules prohibit drivers from climbing on the roof of a 13-foot-high tractor-trailer to clean off snow and ice.
Fischer said equipment to clear trucks of ice and snow exists in Canada, but local trucking officials said they know of no such equipment here.