Log truckers voice concerns about traffic safety
Posted: Sunday, Nov 21, 2004 - 11:45:18 pm PST
By JIM MANN
The Daily Inter Lake

Karen Nichols photos/Daily Inter Lake

A logging truck hauls a load of logs on West Reserve Drive on Wednesday amid heavy traffic.

Log truckers have growing concerns about traffic and hazardous driving in the Flathead Valley, especially as winter approaches.
In fact, some truckers and the Montana Logging Association are pursuing a campaign urging local drivers to pay more attention when there are log trucks in their vicinity.

Veteran driver Joe Keller, who owns and manages a fleet of six log trucks, said truckers are seeing all types of unsafe driving that will become even more dangerous on snow and ice.

People drive well above the speed limit on some routes, they fail to use turn signals around log trucks, and they often try "shortcuts" through parking lots to get ahead of the trucks, Keller said.

"You see a lot of unsafe things, but how many times is the cop there until after the accident?" Keller asked.

"A lot of times people are passing in bad places and they are in a bigger hurry than they ought to be," said driver Jody Jeske, who owns and manages five trucks. "They don't realize how dangerous these trucks can be."

"We're trying to come up with things that we can do to help before winter," Keller said.

That effort, which is backed by the Montana Logging Association, mostly involves letting the public know about the nature of driving a large truck.

The Montana Logging Association has a professional log hauler program that recognizes that truck drivers "are probably the most visible portion of our industry," said Keith Olson, the association's executive director. "Everyone in the Flathead, I would think probably encounters a log truck every day."

Olson said increasing traffic congestion in the valley has presented challenges for drivers, who also are coping with increasing responsibilities mandated by the federal government.

The association has pursued radio advertisements reminding the public to be careful around log trucks.

"They are just friendly reminders that as our roads get more congested, we all need to be more cognizant of traffic around us," Olson said.

People often don't understand that a loaded truck, weighing 80,000 pounds, cannot stop quickly, Keller said, and they don't know that trucks are required to travel slower than speed limits for smaller vehicles.

"Most people don't know that we leave at 1 in the morning to get up into the mountains," Keller said. By mid-afternoon, most truckers have already put in a long shift behind the wheel.

Drivers are limited by law in how much time they can be on the road per day. They also must conduct routine inspections of their rigs and comply with routine drug testing.

The public needs to be especially aware of trucks with winter approaching, Keller said.

"We're going to that extreme condition from now on, once it starts snowing," he said.

A good example of a place where drivers seem oblivious to log trucks is on the Main Street section that rounds the Flathead County Courthouse, Keller said.

"We aren't trying to cut people off there," Keller said, but trucks typically have to take up both lanes to get around the courthouse, and other drivers don't seem to recognize that.

The most troublesome spots appear to be the intersections where Reserve Drive crosses U.S. 93 and U.S. 2 north of Kalispell.

There was a fatal collision involving a log truck at the U.S. 2 intersection earlier this year, and there have been at least a couple other accidents involving log trucks at both locations, Keller said. In all cases, the log truck drivers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Jeske said one of his drivers was involved in an accident when a motorist veered in front of and came to a sudden stop ahead of the truck at the U.S. 93 intersection. That amounted to a fender bender, but Jeske fears accidents with trucks can be far more serious.

Plum Creek Timber Co. typically takes more truckloads at its Flathead facilities during the winter months, he said, so log truck traffic will likely be heavy in the months leading up to spring.

Keller said all motorists should be more careful around the U.S. 93 and U.S. 2 intersections with Reserve. There are flashing lights on the highway leading up to both intersections, but Keller contends that "traffic flashers don't work for people going 70 mph."

A lack of turnout lanes and heavy traffic routinely cause backups at the Plum Creek Timber Co. turnoff on West Reserve Drive near U.S. 2, and at the Mike's Conoco turnoff on U.S. 2 in Columbia Falls, Keller said.

Those situations cause frustration and sometimes bad driving decisions, said Keller, who asks that drivers be patient.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com

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