Alabama steel coil transport law advances

02/24/2009

By Dan Carsen

Alabama truckers who don’t properly secure massive metal coils will soon face tougher penalties if a bill passed last Tuesday by the state Senate becomes law.

“Things are progressing,” says Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, sponsor of an identical bill in the House. “We’re very optimistic.” DeMarco’s bill has already passed the House three times, each time dying in the Senate over issues that had little to do with the bill. Last week it passed 27-0.

Officially known as “The Metal Coil Securement act of 2009,” the bill directs the Department of Public Safety to publish standards for training drivers in coil securement and to provide certification. It also mandates DPS to “use its commercial vehicle inspection authority, including portable scales ... to aggressively inspect and weigh vehicles transporting metal coils.” The penalties for violations range from a $25 fine to a $10,000 fine and imprisonment.

The coils, which can weigh 50,000 pounds, are usually produced at steel mills and trucked to processing sites for cutting or coating before being hauled to car, appliance or other factories. There have been dozens of accidents in Alabama.

One incident that heightened public attention happened last June in Birmingham when a truck collapsed on Interstate 65, dropping a 46,000-pound coil that rolled 400 ft. No one has been killed in Alabama, but there have been injuries and millions of dollars in damage.

Strict coil-transport regulations have been enacted in New York, and some say they caused trucking firms to relocate out of state. But DeMarco said he got “input from the players,” including officials from DPS, ALDOT and trucking and steel industry groups.

Gene Vonderau, safety director of the Alabama Trucking Association, agreed. He says that when new federal rules on transporting coils took effect several years ago, the ATA determined about half of drivers “weren’t up to speed. They were going by inadequate, old-school standards.”

On the current bill, Vonderau said, “We all worked together extensively to get the wording right.”   

The bill is expected to come up for a vote in the House in the next few weeks. Governor Bob Riley, who had initiated meetings among interested parties to address the issue, has voiced support.

Vonderau and Demarco agreed the issue is “critical.”

“We’re just trying to keep the motoring public safe,” Demarco says.

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