A proposal to make it mandatory for trucks to use technology to limit their speed has been kicking around for a decade, but now some people are arguing that it's too dangerous to wait any longer.
"It can be intimidating," said Julio Herrera, who drives daily on the Long Island Expressway and finds himself frequently in front of or alongside a big truck. "They can be aggressive sometimes."
Speed is a major contributor to truck accidents, the American Truck Association acknowledges on its website. Last year, those types of accidents killed 27 in New York City and 18 on Long Island alone.
Farmingdale truck company owner Erez Herschkowitz says he caught one of his drivers going 75 to 80 mph, "and that scared us to death." Since then, he's installed devices on all his trucks to limit how fast they can go.
The devices, he says, have made a big difference.
"We just felt it would be safer for us," he said. "We don't want to risk our guy getting into an accident and us losing our whole business."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urged the federal Department of Transportation Thursday to approve a proposal that would make so-called speed limiters mandatory on all large trucks and buses.
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"Requiring electronic speed limiters on large trucks would save lives, prevent injuries and make our roadways safer," he said.
An association representing independent truckers disagrees, saying in a statement that a national speed policy for all trucks would be dangerous because it would create hazardous speed differentials between cars and trucks.
Van driver Jim Mayott said he sees their point.
"People are trying to go past you, they're getting aggravated so they're zig-zagging around all these trucks," he said. "I don't think it's a good idea."
A longtime upstate truck driver echoed the point, telling NBC 4 over the phone trucks are safest when they travel with the flow of traffic.
Right now, it's unclear if the DOT will approve the proposal before the Obama administration leaves office.
