Accident victim vows to fight rule allowing longer trucks

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, August 28, 2002

A recent decision by the Oregon Transportation Commission paving the way for longer trucks to operate on Highway 3 is taking some heat on the other side of the state border.

A Washington resident who was run over by a truck two years ago on Rattlesnake grade says Oregon is making a big mistake by allowing trucks to pull tandem trailers over the highway between Enterprise and Lewiston.

“I don’t know what is wrong with Oregon if they are willing to risk people’s lives to save a little money,” said Roy Watkins of Spokane, who was crushed between the guard rail and a big truck in the spring of 2000 while he on his way to the Grande Ronde river to go steelhead fishing. “The first time they get a million dollar lawsuit against them from a survivor – if there is a survivor – they won’t have saved a thing.”

Last month the state highway transportation commission adopted new procedures through which truckers could obtain a special permit allowing them to add a second trailer behind their 18-wheelers. The move was promoted by members of the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners, Wallowa County Wheat League, and truckers as a way to reduce the cost of shipping grain and other products to Lewiston.

Previously, trucks were limited to a single trailer and a total length of not more than 75 feet. Under the new rules, overall truck length can be increased to more than 88 ft., depending on the length of the tractor and the trailers.

The new rules are effective only during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, from April 1 to Oct. 30. The limited time frame was one of the conditions adopted to ensure safety along Buford grade, a series of sharp curves along the highway along the canyon rim near the Oregon/Washington border.

A big concern among highway officials was trucks crossing the center line. During a test run videotaped by highway department staff an 88-foot long rig crossed the center line by up to one foot, according to Tom Schuft, manager of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Region 5. Though that was a concern, ODOT officials decided that there was nine feet of pavement left in the oncoming lane for passenger cars to get by safely. ODOT tried to mitigate the center line problem by limiting truck hours of operation and by placing extra signs along the curves warning drivers of oversized loads.

These measures are not enough, according to Watkins, who said he will file for an injunction to stop the big rigs from crossing into Washington and onto Rattlesnake grade.

“If a truck sticks over that center line by a foot and hurts somebody they’re in big trouble because I want every inch of my side of the highway,” he said, adding, “They put that stripe there for a reason, so I could have my fair share.

Watkins, 63, said that the trucker who sideswiped his camper two years ago crossed over the center line and forced him into the guard rail.

“I still have nightmares about that,” said Watkins, who is still paralyzed in one leg from the incident.

Watkins was on his way to Troy when he met the 18-wheeler pulling a steam roller on a flatbed trailer. He said the steam roller was sticking out over the edge of the trailer when it caught his camper and ripped it off his 1994 Chevy pickup. Then the truck slid sideways toward his vehicle, crushing him between the trailer and the guard rail.

“When you see a huge semi coming at you like that it’s absolute terror, especially when you have no place to go,” Watkins said. “If I hadn’t hit that last post I would have gone 600 feet over the edge. I almost got killed.”

Watkins, who taught high school at Enterprise in the 1960s, said he doubts that Wallowa County farmers would be advocating the longer truck lengths on Highway 3 if it meant sacrificing the safety of motorists.

“There’s not one farmer in Wallowa County that wouldn’t understand,” he said. “My advice to all those farmers is to lobby Oregon to widen the highway.”

Watkins isn’t the only one who thinks longer trucks on Highway 3 may compromise public safety. Mike O’Rourke, who has operated a trucking company in Wallowa County since 1961, says that nine feet of road width in the oncoming lane isn’t enough.

“I think they’re way off by doing it,” O’Rourke said of the new length limits.

O’Rourke said the new rules don’t take into account the presence of motor homes, which can be up to 8 1/2 feet wide.

“Nine feet isn’t enough,” he said. “I think the highway department ought to take another look and give the tourists and their motor homes more room.” He suggested that ODOT conduct another test using a big truck and a motor home using the sharpest curves at the same time.

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