Keep Big Rigs off 154

It should be illegal to drive semitrucks, trailers, and motor homes on Highway 154. Every day, hundreds of cars travel over the 154. The 154 is not equipped with runway ramps or turnouts with sufficient space or length for rigs of these size to pull over safely. Should one of these vehicles break down, there is nowhere for them to pull over, and then the two-lane highway is blocked off until the truck can be removed. This puts other drivers in danger and is also a huge inconvenience for the rest of the people using the road.

Another danger is one of these rigs losing its brakes. Just this last year a semitruck lost its brakes. The truck went flying down the 154 out of the control of the driver with no sign of stopping until it crashed into a Santa Barbara residence killing an 8-year-old boy and his parents. Furthermore, these trucks go extremely slowly up and down the 154 as they do not have the power to tackle the steady incline at a decent pace or the maneuverability to go downhill at a steady pace. This creates an issue for many commuters and residents of the mountain area who are trying to get to work and school on time.

The trucks use the 154 to try and save a little time instead of taking the safer, flatter, multilane Highway 101. In the process, they are making the rest of us late, if not putting us in serious or fatal danger.