WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today drew attention to the safety risks associated with large tractor-trailers on the nation’s highways. Wicker’s comments came during a Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security Subcommittee hearing.

Some have proposed a national mandate to supersede state laws in order to allow twin-33 foot trucks, which measure 84-feet in length, on highways and interstates. Wicker noted that data shows that double-trailer trucks have an 11 percent higher fatal crash rate than single-trailer trucks. In 2015, the number of people who died in large truck crashes was 22 percent higher than in the previous year.

Wicker has long opposed efforts to preempt the law in 38 states, including Mississippi, which prohibit twin 33-foot trucks from operating within their jurisdictions.