Dropping Kentucky's 126,000-pound weight limit for coal trucks won't reduce the number of traffic fatalities, says the Kentucky Coal Assn.

Bill Caylor, president of the association, is fighting activists who think lower truck weights will cut the number of fatalities where coal trucks were involved. According to the Associated Press, there were 21 deaths on U.S. 23 in eastern Kentucky between 1994 and 2000, with coal trucks involved in more than half of the 102 accidents involving commercial vehicles.
"A lot of this is a Catch-22" Caylor said, reported the AP. "If you bring the weight down on trucks, you increase the truck traffic. Statistically, the more traffic you have, the more accidents you'll have."
Coal truck safety advocates point to a 199 study by the University of Kentucky Transportation Center that showed 99 percent of the coal trucks on U.S. 23 in Lawrenece County were over the state weight limit.
Ironically, the study recommended raising the legal weight limit to 150,000 pounds and making some safety improvements.
Activists also complain that the state is not enforcing the weight limits well enough, noting that only 36 overweight citations were written on U.S. 23 in Lawrence County in 1999.