Retired Illinois Police Chief to Congress: Keep Bigger Trucks off Our Roads

Law enforcement and local government leaders from Illinois and across the country will be on Capitol Hill Wednesday, June 4 to tell Congress they don’t want motorists in their towns sharing the roads with bigger, more dangerous trucks. They are waging a battle against special interests pushing federal legislation that would allow heavier and longer semi-trucks on our nation’s roads, endangering unsuspecting motorists.

One of the leaders headed to Washington is Steve Casstevens, a retired police chief from Buffalo Grove and past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Casstevens has spent decades advocating for policies that prioritize community safety and protect law enforcement officers on the road.

“Law enforcement officers understand what’s at stake because we’ve seen it firsthand. When a heavier truck crashes, the damage isn’t just on the road—it’s in the emergency room, in the tow yard, and in the lives disrupted,” said Casstevens. “These proposals may sound like logistics policy, but to us, it’s a safety crisis in the making.”

Casstevens joins like-minded law enforcement and local government officials from other states in making the trip to Washington at the invitation of the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks (CABT),
a nonprofit grassroots organization that, for the past 30 years, has successfully opposed federal legislation that would make trucks longer or heavier.

The 119th Congress will be reauthorizing the surface transportation authorization bill, also known as the highway bill, where the issue has already been raised in Congressional hearings this year. The current bill expires in September 2026, and lawmakers are already holding hearings to determine transportation priorities, including whether to allow bigger trucks on the nation’s roads.

“The heavier and longer the truck, the more dangerous every roadside stop becomes for officers,” added Casstevens. “Whether it’s limited maneuverability, poor braking, or reduced visibility, these vehicles increase the risk to everyone, especially the men and women in uniform working traffic enforcement.”

Past proposals to raise truck size and weight limits, which will resurface, include:

• A 91,000-pound “pilot project”, allowing states to authorize operation of these dangerous, heavier trucks on roadways for up to 10 years, turning interstates into test tracks and motorists into guinea pigs. These trucks would be 5 1⁄2 tons heavier than what the current law allows.
• Language for a proposal that would turn the responsibility of interstate commerce over to states, creating a logistical nightmare, which could see every state with its own truck weight limits.” This language as written would allow any governor the authority to raise truck weights in their state during an emergency or during “unusual conditions,” including a vague and open-ended definition of supply chain impairment. This provision is another attempt by proponents of bigger trucks to put more dangerous trucks on the road, with virtually no oversight.

In March, lawmakers introduced bills in the House and Senate that would significantly expand the areas where heavier log trucks can operate on interstates. In February, House lawmakers introduced another bill that would increase the maximum allowable weight to 90,000 pounds for trucks carrying agricultural and forestry products on Virginia’s interstates.

Key Facts:

• According to the most recent available data, there were 6,405 large truck crashes in 2023 in Illinois, resulting in 3,207 injuries and 190 fatalities.
• The latest nationwide data show a deadly and dangerous trend over time – a 37.5% increase in fatalities since 2013, when 3,981 fatalities involving large trucks were recorded.
• A 2016 U.S. Department of Transportation study found that heavier trucks were 47%-400% more likely to be involved in a crash compared to standard 80,000-pound trucks.
• The study also found higher rollover rates, higher brake violation rates and higher out-of-service violation rates. A 2016 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that any truck with an out-of-service violation is 362% more likely to be involved in a crash.
• According to an updated CABT study, 91,000-pound trucks would put over 720 locally owned bridges at risk, requiring replacement costs of more than $775 million. This includes 14,639 bridges in Illinois. These figures do not account for the shortened lifespans all bridges would face, and it’s a cost that would fall largely on local governments.