The gist of my statement at last Monday’s press conference was to ask for people to go to our new website: http://www.StopBiggerTrucks.org and sign a petition to continue the freeze initiated in 1991 on the size and weight of semi trucks. If you’re interested in this issue, please go to that website, look around, and if you can, sign the petition. Below are some of the comments I made Monday morning to the press:

Good morning.  My name is Dawn King and I am here today along with my siblings to honor my father, William H. Badger, who was 75 years young when he was killed two days before Christmas 2004.  He was stopped in traffic when a tractor-trailer driver fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into his car.

My dad was a husband, a father, a brother, a friend and a colleague.  He was a world traveler and life long learner, he was interested in everything, and shared the things he knew and the stories he lived with us all.  He was everyone’s handyman, comfort and support; everyone was his friend.  And his friends called him Bill.

Since my family’s tragic loss I have joined CRASH — Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways.  I am now on it’s Board of Directors and I have been part of our First Response team to assist other grieving truck crash victims.

The American public needs to know that the American Trucking Association is once again pushing Congress to increase the weight and size limits of trucks on our highways and bridges.  If the ATA gets its way, the current 80,000 pound limit will increase to 97,000 pounds.  That’s a 21% increase.  They won’t tell you that history has repeatedly shown that truck size and weight increases do not result in fewer trucks on our highways.  They also won’t tell you that the engines needed in these heavier and more dangerous trucks produce more pollution than today’s standard tractor-trailers.

Between 2003 and 2007 alone, 535 people were killed in truck crashes in Michigan.  To our elected officials who we entrust with our lives we say, you can change our laws, but you can’t change the laws of physics.  We know that bigger and heavier trucks will result in more damage to our roads and bridges and more deaths and devastating injuries to people who attempt to share the roads with these big rigs.

Let’s not forget the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 that killed 13 unsuspecting people, injured an additional 145 people, and horrified our entire nation.

Today, an estimated 162,000 of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.  As Congress makes a decision on the next federal surface transportation act, they should consider this:  Will giving into the truck lobby cause more or less damage to our nation’s network of highways and bridges that we as taxpayers pay to repair?  Will bigger trucks mean more or less death and disabling injury?

We all know the answers to these questions.  That is why I am here to stand with other daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers who are turning their sorrow to strength to make sure that decisions made by our lawmakers in Washington this year are truly in the public’s interest.

Please visit StopBiggerTrucks.org to sign the petition in support of the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Protection Act – known as SHIPA, to freeze truck size and weight limits at the current level.  The SHIPA legislation is endorsed by the truck drivers of the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters, by environment groups like Environment America, and by safety organizations like CRASH, Parents Against Tired Truckers and the Truck Safety Coalition.

We also know that public opinion is on our side.  So, please go to StopBigger Trucks.org and let your voice be heard so that together we can draw a bold line in the pavement against bigger and heavier trucks.  Before it’s too late.

Thank you.