South Carolina to consider lane restrictions

While South Carolina trucking advocates said they do not oppose the plan, they add that lane limitations may create other traffic problems, especially around highway entry and exit points.

"Reducing the highway capacity available for large commercial vehicles may provide a more convenient high speed lane for cars, but it will create another set of challenges for truck drivers," said J. Richards Todd, president of the South Carolina Trucking Assn. "The restrictions will require all motorists to be more courteous and we specifically ask that car drivers give truck drivers room to enter, exit, and to change lanes."

Todd added that such truck restrictions may not be necessary, as the number of fatalities and collisions involving large trucks dropped 25% on South Carolina's roadways in 2000, according to FMCSA statistics.