SUVs facing restrictions on where they can travel

Make sense to me ... thus unlikely to come to fruition, alas.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7842734.htm?template=con
tentModules/printstory.jsp 
Posted on Sat, Jan. 31, 2004   

SUVs facing restrictions on where they can travel
LEGISLATION PENDING IN NEW YORK STATE

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - What's a truck?
The answer to that question, posed by a New York City lawmaker, could end up
restricting which highways and streets large sport-utility vehicles can
travel in New York.
Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette wants to require heavy SUVs to travel along truck
routes, saying their girth makes them subject to the same weight-based
safety standards as their commercial cousins.
``Where does a passenger vehicle end and a truck begin?'' Lafayette asked.
``Is a 10,000-pound Hummer a truck?''
A typical compact Honda, by contrast, weighs about 2,400 pounds.
Lafayette, who drives a Ford Taurus, said he's preparing legislation that
would target nearly two dozen models that weigh more than 6,000 pounds.
If Lafayette's idea becomes law, the SUVs would have to travel interstate
highways or other truck routes -- some of them toll roads -- with wider
lanes and long stretches between exits. Now, large SUVs routinely travel
meandering commuter roads with free access to residential areas.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration already classifies
most sport-utility vehicles as light trucks when gauging fuel efficiency.
Lafayette's proposal is believed to be the first of its kind, said Melissa
Savage of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in July that
death rates rose significantly for SUV occupants in rollovers as compared to
passenger cars. SUVs account for about 25 percent of all the vehicles sold
in the United States, according to analysts.

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