My name is Jake Heusinkveld.  I am a lifelong resident of Idaho , having grown up in Lewiston and now living in Boise .  For at least 36 years, I have ridden motorcycles throughout our great state.  Whether it has been on a Honda CT90 or a 1450cc cruiser, I have enjoyed riding the back roads, trails and the open roadways in Northern, Central, Southwestern, Southern and Eastern Idaho .

As I ride familiar roadways and explore new ones, I have become increasingly concerned about safety on our public roads.  Along with the growth and development of our state comes increased traffic.  That increased traffic includes heavy vehicles carrying dirt, sand, gravel, rocks and other materials.  Occasionally, materials will blow, spill or drop off from these trucks, causing hazards for pedestrians, automobiles, bicycles and motorcycles who share the roads with these vehicles.  Personally, I have come too close to potatoes, beets and onions while riding in the Fall around Boise .  I have been hit by river gravel that has fallen from a truck coming in the opposite direction while riding along Highway 20/26.  Too often, I have come across a pile of sand while rounding a corner on Highway 55 between Horseshoe Bend and Cascade.  There are roads here in Ada County that I will no longer ride on due to the amount of spilled dirt and sand left primarily by the heavy trucks.  Other roads in our State are subject to these conditions.  As a citizen, taxpayer, and user of public roads, I do not think that is right.

Current Idaho law, (393.100. General Rules For Protection Against Shifting or Falling Cargo)   does not require that truckers secure their loads of granular products such as rocks, sand, gravel, potatoes, beets, wood chips, etc. from spilling, sifting or dropping by using tarps or other similar coverings.  Our neighboring states have varying degrees of regulation on this topic.  Some make it mandatory that vehicles hauling all materials (mining, agricultural, forest products, metal articles, etc.) to be covered to prevent the spilling of their loads.  Other states limit load covering to specific materials such as agricultural or forest products.  (More information on other states’ regulations can be found at    http://www.truckcover-tarp.org)

Previous efforts to enhance the current regulation for covering loads in the Idaho Legislature have been defeated.  I have been working with one of my state Legislators, Senator David Langhorst, (District 16, NW Boise) on formulating a plan to bring a proposal requiring that loads be covered before the current legislative session.  David is a member of the Senate Transportation Committee.  He is very interested in this issue and is enthusiastic in helping to bring about improvement in this area.  David is a motorcyclist who has been impacted by debris spilled by uncovered trucks.

David’s guidance to help make this proposal a reality two fold:

1. limit the commodities included in the proposal (see attached .pdf file) to mining products (sand, dirt, gravel, rocks)  . Focusing on these materials will make this a state-wide issue, not necessarily a North Idaho/Southern Idaho/Eastern Idaho discussion
2. Enlist the help of parties such as motorcycling clubs, organizations, and individuals interested in supporting this proposed legislation to contact members of both the Senate and House Transportation Committees as well as their local representatives indicating their support.

  Members of the 2007 Senate and House Transportation Committees are listed below:

Senate Transportation Committee

Chair John McGee
Vice Chair James C. Hammond
Republicans

Shawn Keough
Robert L. Geddes
Brad Little
Tim Corder
Leland Heinrich

Democrats

David Langhorst
Edgar J. Malepeai

House Transportation and Defense Committee

Chair JoAn E. Wood
Vice Chair Phil Hart
Republicans

Leon E. Smith
Ken A. Roberts
Scott Bedke
Richard Wills
Mike Moyle
Bob Nonini
Dean M. Mortimer
Marv Hagedorn

Democrats

Mary Lou Shepherd
Shirley G. Ringo
Phylis K. King
James D. Ruchti

Please take a moment to send your comments to the members of these Transportation Committees and your Legislator.  It should take less than 10 minutes.  I’ve included a sample letter which you can modify as needed.

Process for contacting Idaho Legislators:

The State of Idaho has made it very easy to communicate with members of these Transportation committees and our Legislators:

To send a letter of support for this proposal to each member of the Transportation Committees:

- use the following link

        http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/about/contactbycommitteeaction.cfm

- choose which committee, House and/or Senate Transportation, you wish to contact

- paste your letter or comments into the space provided and submit your comments.

To find the names of your District’s Legislators, use the link below

         http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/about/districtmap.htm  

- use the following link to get the form for sending comments to the Legislator

        http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/about/contactbydistrict.cfm

To send a hardcopy letter, please use the following format:

(Name)

Idaho State Legislature

State Capitol Building

P.O. Box 83720

Boise, Idaho 

83720-0081 (Senate zip code)

83720-0038 (House zip code)

From personal experience, I know that using the on-line process is a very effective and easy method for communicating with the Legislators.

Timing:

Senator Langhorst is expecting the present the proposal to Senate Transportation Committee sometime in the next few weeks.  To have the most effect, having letters of support sent to the Legislators prior to that time would be preferred.  Following discussion in the Committee, the Committee will schedule public testimony if the proposal is to proceed.  I am planning to testify at that time.  If there are others who would like to present to the Committee, that would be great.  I will send a notice to this distribution list when the public testimony meeting is scheduled.

I have done considerable research on the impact of falling road debris.   I’ve contacted folks from the Idaho State Police, Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, County 9-1-1 Dispatch offices, State Points of Entry stations, County Highway districts, AAA and more.  With the exception of the expected resistance from the trucking industry, each of the various government and non-government organizations are supportive of making the proposal a reality.  I am hopeful that this cross-agency support plus help from statewide motorcycle enthusiasts will convince our Legislators that this is a beneficial proposal.

I look forward to your help and support to make Idaho ’s roads safer.

Please feel free to send me any questions.

Regards,

Jake Heusinkveld

3675 Gramarcy Lane

Boise , Idaho   83703

jakeh@cableone.net