MINUTES OF THE

SENATE Committee on Transportation

 

Seventy-second Session

March 20, 2003

 

 

The Senate Committee on Transportation was called to order by Chairman Raymond C. Shaffer, at 1:43 p.m., on Thursday, March 20, 2003, in Room 2149 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster. All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

Senator Raymond C. Shaffer, Chairman

Senator Dennis Nolan, Vice Chairman

Senator Mark Amodei

Senator Warren B. Hardy II

Senator Michael Schneider

Senator Terry Care

Senator Maggie Carlton

 

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

 

Senator Raymond D. Rawson, Clark County Senatorial District No. 6

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Marsheilah Lyons, Committee Policy Analyst

Lee-Ann Keever, Committee Secretary

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

Gary H. Wolff, Lobbyist, Teamsters Local 14

Daryl E. Capurro, Lobbyist,Nevada Motor Transport Association, Inc.

Berlyn Miller, Nevada Contractors Association

 

Chairman Shaffer said Senator Care had an announcement regarding the subcommittee hearing on Senate Bill (S.B.) 220. Senator Care stated he and Senator Amodei would serve on an S.B. 220 subcommittee. The subcommittee would meet Tuesday, March 25, 2003, at the conclusion of the Senate Committee on Transportation’s regularly scheduled meeting.

 

Chairman Shaffer opened the hearing on S.B. 157 and asked Senator Rawson, the bill’s sponsor, to explain the bill.

 

SENATE BILL 157:  Requires certain trucks and combinations of vehicles to be driven in extreme right lanes of certain highways. (BDR 43-595)

 

Senator Raymond D. Rawson, Clark County Senatorial District No. 6, said the bill’s intent was to keep traffic flowing and large trucks out of the fast lanes. He stressed he was not taking a shot at the trucking industry as Nevada’s economy depended on trucking.

 

Senator Rawson said Las Vegas had been the fastest-growing city in the country. Due to the rapid growth, Clark County had more construction trucks on its highways than most cities. When construction debris flew off the trucks, the trucks’ loads damaged automobiles. This occurred even when the loads were covered with tarps.

 

Senator Rawson stated he had seen other drivers maneuvering their vehicles across the highway to avoid debris coming off trucks. The drivers would spin out on the highway in their efforts to avoid debris. The Senator said he replaced the windshields in his personal vehicles yearly due to damage by truck debris. Senator Rawson said it was common to find the large trucks impeding the flow of traffic in all lanes of a highway. He noted the traffic situation was the same in Reno.

 

Senator Rawson said he did not want to create a burden for the trucking industry, but was trying to find a way to keep traffic flowing and allowing a faster lane of travel for cars. He wanted to accomplish his goal with legislation that was as innocuous as possible. Senator Rawson said he had not discussed S.B. 157 with anyone. He was not sure if there would be any opposition to the bill.

 

Senator Rawson said there was a fatality rate of 85 percent when large trucks were involved in multi-vehicle accidents. Despite the high fatality rate, Senator Rawson did not want to keep large trucks off the highways.

 

Chairman Shaffer asked if Senator Rawson received the fiscal note attached to S.B. 157. Senator Rawson said no, and added he did not think the bill had a fiscal note. He asked about the wording in the fiscal note. Chairman Shaffer told him the fiscal note said there would be an effect on local governments, but no figures had been included with the fiscal note.

 

Senator Rawson said there were 44,000 vehicle accidents in Clark County in 2002. He said the fiscal effect of those crashes could not be calculated. The Senator said approximately 10 percent or 2200 of those accidents involved large trucks.

 

Gary H. Wolff, Lobbyist, Teamsters Local 14, said he was neutral on the bill. He stated there were some problems with large trucks on Nevada’s highways, and he did not know if S.B. 157 would solve those problems. It was annoying when a person driving up a grade was behind two large trucks side by side. Mr. Wolff said large trucks sometimes lose their momentum when climbing grades and cause traffic jams. However, if a large truck could maintain its speed, there would be no problem. He noted large trucks sometimes create vision problems for other drivers on the road. Mr. Wolff reiterated he was neutral on the bill, and appreciated what Senator Rawson was trying to accomplish with the bill.

 

Senator Care asked whether three trucks going up a grade, side by side, would be a violation of S.B. 157. Mr. Wolff said it would be a violation of the bill as well as a violation of impeding traffic. He stated there were some accidents where the truck driver was not at fault due to being rear-ended by another driver. Mr. Wolff said he did not understand how other drivers failed to see big trucks.

 

Mr. Wolff stated empty trucks did not create traffic problems. They were lighter after dumping their loads, and able to move with the flow of traffic. Senator Care asked whether the freeways in Clark and Washoe Counties were the only roads affected by the bill. Mr. Wolff said S.B. 157 affected only multilane freeways.

 

Daryl E. Capurro, Lobbyist,Nevada Motor Transport Association, Inc., said he understood and commiserated with Senator Rawson’s concerns. Similar pieces of legislation had been presented to the Legislature in previous sessions. Mr. Capurro conceded there were some problems with large trucks and traffic. He was surprised the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) was not present to testify on the bill because NDOT had opposed the bill in its previous incarnations.

 

Mr. Capurro said NDOT wanted an even distribution of traffic on Nevada’s roads so wear and tear on the highways was not restricted to the right lane of traffic. In some areas of Nevada, NDOT requires large trucks to travel in the left-hand lane due to the right-hand lane being damaged.

 

Mr. Capurro stated he had concerns with the term “reasonable difference,” and wanted to know what constituted a reasonable difference. He said reasonable difference varied under different traffic conditions.

 

Mr. Capurro said he understood the provisions regarding emergency vehicles. He said he was concerned out-of-state truckers would not be aware of Nevada’s laws. Mr. Capurro thought the fiscal note might address the cost of the signage required to notify out-of-state truckers about using the right-hand lane of traffic. He said he wanted sufficient early notification to those drivers indicating they had to use the two right-hand lanes of a three-lane highway.

 

Mr. Capurro referred to the 12,000-pound weight limit mentioned in the bill and said he was not sure if it was the correct weight category. He stated there were passenger trucks with dual axles weighing 12,000 pounds or more. He wanted to know if the bill would apply to those vehicles. Additionally, if the trucks were towing boats or trailers, their weight increased.

 

Mr. Capurro said he was concerned with the ambiguity of what a reasonable distance would be for making a safe movement to a left-hand lane. The bill was contrary to good traffic distribution on a road.

 

Senator Nolan asked Mr. Capurro if he had suggestions for the bill. The Senator said the Legislature addresses the issue of large trucks on Nevada’s highways every 2 years. Senator Nolan asked whether a fire engine or municipal bus would fall in the category of vehicles described in the bill. Senator Nolan said large trucks required great distances for braking purposes. If large trucks were confined to the right-hand lane, there might be a backup of traffic on off-ramps due to the braking needs of large trucks. The Senator said he hoped Mr. Capurro could help committee members determine the answer to the problem of large trucks on Nevada’s highways.

 

Mr. Capurro said his organization had looked at the problem and reiterated previous testimony concerning prior introduction of legislation similar to S.B. 157. He said if he had the answers to the problem, he would have introduced legislation himself.

 

Mr. Capurro agreed with Senator Nolan that forcing large trucks to use two right-hand lanes would create an on- or off-ramp problem and slow or stop traffic. Mr. Capurro did not see where the bill solved the problem of a truck with dual axles throwing rocks up from its back tires. He agreed rock throwing by those vehicles was a problem, but did not think restricting the large trucks to the two right-hand lanes would solve the problem.

 

Mr. Capurro said there were truckers who drove alongside other trucks blocking traffic. He thought the solution would be minimum speeds, requiring a truck driver to maintain a certain speed, or stay in the extreme right-hand lane.

 

Senator Care asked if there was a network for truckers informing them of trucking laws in different states. Mr. Capurro said no; however, his organization attempted to keep up with the trucking laws in the surrounding states. It is unreasonable to expect a truck driver to keep track of traffic laws in states in which he travels unless proper signage was provided. Mr. Capurro did not know of any other state with legislation restricting large trucks to the outer two right-hand lanes. Mr. Capurro repeated the need for abundant, proper signage alerting truck drivers to Nevada’s traffic laws.

 

Chairman Shaffer said he thought most states provided signage indicating the speeds for large trucks. Mr. Capurro stated there were approximately 30 states in which the speed limit for large trucks was the same as for automobiles. He said if a truck maintained the posted speed limit for cars, it should be able to travel in all lanes on the highway and not be restricted to the right-hand lane. Mr. Capurro said if S.B. 157 passed, the truck drivers would be concerned about left-hand off-ramps. While Nevada did not have many left-hand off-ramps, there were enough to cause concern with a large truck safely changing lanes in order to use a left-hand off-ramp.

 

Berlyn Miller, Nevada Contractors Association, testified the members of the Nevada Contractors Association (NCA) differed from other truck drivers in that they are not interstate haulers. Instead, they haul locally, run empty 50 percent of the time, and go on short hauls. Mr. Miller stated the NCA drivers are professional drivers and members of the Teamsters Union. The NCA thought the driver was the best judge of circumstances under which he was operating. For those reasons, the NCA opposes S.B. 157.

 

Chairman Shaffer asked how the NCA drivers are paid, by the hour or salary. Mr. Miller said the NCA drivers are union members and paid according to union guidelines. Mr. Miller said he thought S.B. 157 would impact some emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, as they exceed 12,000 pounds.

 

Senator Nolan asked Mr. Capurro about the provisions of S.B. 157 and the weight allowances under the bill. Mr. Capurro said emergency vehicles responding to an emergency would be exempt from the bill’s provisions. He added there were other statutory exemptions in the Nevada Revised Statutes for emergency vehicles. Senator Nolan asked whether an emergency vehicle would be exempt if it were returning from an emergency or operating under nonemergency conditions.

 

Mr. Capurro said Nevada’s maximum weight law for standard weights, without a permit, is 80,000 pounds. The permit system allows a truck to weigh up to 129,000 pounds. Trucks weighing that much would generally be used at mine sites and not on Nevada’s roads.

 

Senator Nolan said he was sensitive to the signage issue. He asked what would happen if large trucks were restricted to the two right lanes of travel. Mr. Capurro said such a restriction related to traffic distribution. The committee members would have to decide if they wanted all the wear and tear on the two right-hand lanes of traffic. He stated NDOT would be better able to answer Senator Nolan’s questions. Those questions would have to be addressed if the Legislature wanted the bill to work as intended.

 

Senator Rawson said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defined a large truck as one weighing over 10,000 pounds. Based on that definition, the Senator deliberately made the weight limit higher than 10,000 pounds because he wanted to exclude passenger trucks with dual axles or farm trucks from the provisions of S.B. 157. He said a truck did not have to weigh much to block traffic.

 

When drafting the bill, Senator Rawson researched laws in other states. He learned some of those states had similar restrictive language.

 

Senator Rawson stated he tried to exclude emergency vehicles, and kept the language in S.B. 157 as innocuous as possible.

 

Senator Rawson said Reno and Las Vegas were the only areas in Nevada with six lanes of traffic referred to in S.B. 157. He also said the reasonable distance language had been written into the bill due to the multilane streets in both of Nevada’s large metropolitan areas. Reasonable distance depended on the traffic conditions. Senator Rawson was concerned large, slow-moving trucks would block all lanes of traffic on Nevada’s freeways.

 

Senator Rawson asked the committee members to process a measure which would be beneficial to 90 percent of Nevada’s drivers who were not in a large truck. The Senator stated he did not want to impact the trucking industry in Nevada with S.B. 157.  Chairman Shaffer asked if Senator Rawson would object to the Senate Committee on Transportation receiving input from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) prior to processing S.B. 157. Senator Rawson said that would be fine, and offered to share his research with committee members. Chairman Shaffer said he wanted DMV’s input on the bill and did not understand why the DMV had not appeared to testify at the hearing.

 

Senator Rawson said the growth in Reno and Las Vegas was great enough that the freeways would be redone before they wore out. Chairman Shaffer did not think population was the criteria for determining which freeways would be affected by the bill. He said while Reno was not as large as Las Vegas, both cities had the same problems with large trucks. Senator Rawson stated he had not mentioned specific cities in his bill as some freeways in southern Nevada were outside the Las Vegas city limits. Senator Rawson said he appreciated the consideration S.B. 157 received from committee members.

There being no further business, Chairman Shaffer adjourned the Senate Committee on Transportation at 2:16 p.m.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

 

                                                           

Lee-Ann Keever,

Committee Secretary

 

 

APPROVED BY:

 

 

 

                                                                                         

Senator Raymond C. Shaffer, Chairman

 

 

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