Houston's mayor wants to extend a ban on trucks in the left lane of highways.
A pilot program has banned trucks from the left lane of an 8-mile stretch of the East Freeway (I-10) since September 2000. A recent study of the program found that accidents along the segment fell by 70 percent - but some question whether the lane restrictions were really the cause.
According to The Houston Chronicle, Houston Mayor Lee Brown has asked the state Department of Transportation to enact a left-lane truck ban on the North Freeway (I-45) and the Pasadena-La Porte Freeway (Texas 225) from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays.
The Texas Transportation Institute reported that accidents averaged 2.9 per week for the eight-month test period through May 31, compared to 7.5 per week during 1998.
However, the report also cited complaints from drivers of both trucks and cars that keeping trucks in the outside lanes makes merging more difficult and dangerous. After monitoring the stretch with cameras, the Institute found there was little effect on average vehicle speeds or frequency of lane-changing.
Stepped-up police patrols in the area could have helped account for the smaller number of accidents. Police wrote 852 tickets in 36 weeks for violating the lane restriction.
A pilot program has banned trucks from the left lane of an 8-mile stretch of the East Freeway (I-10) since September 2000. A recent study of the program found that accidents along the segment fell by 70 percent - but some question whether the lane restrictions were really the cause.
According to The Houston Chronicle, Houston Mayor Lee Brown has asked the state Department of Transportation to enact a left-lane truck ban on the North Freeway (I-45) and the Pasadena-La Porte Freeway (Texas 225) from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays.
The Texas Transportation Institute reported that accidents averaged 2.9 per week for the eight-month test period through May 31, compared to 7.5 per week during 1998.
However, the report also cited complaints from drivers of both trucks and cars that keeping trucks in the outside lanes makes merging more difficult and dangerous. After monitoring the stretch with cameras, the Institute found there was little effect on average vehicle speeds or frequency of lane-changing.
Stepped-up police patrols in the area could have helped account for the smaller number of accidents. Police wrote 852 tickets in 36 weeks for violating the lane restriction.
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