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STATE OF Department of Public Safety Maine Traffic Safety Unit State House Station 20 Augusta, Maine 04333-0020 PAUL R. LEPAGE COL. ROBERT A. WILLIAMS GOVERNOR CHIEF

JOHN B MORRIS LT. COL. RAYMOND A. BESSETTE COMMISSIONER DEPUTY cums

Testimony of Lt. Brian Scott

NEITHER FOR NOR AGAINST LD 21

AN Acr To AMEND THE Moron VEHICLE LAWS GOVERNING REQUISITE

TIRE SIZE

Senator Mazurek, Representative Theriault, Members of the ]oint Standing

Committee on Transportation. My name is Lt. Brian Scott, and I am the

commanding officer of the State Police Traffic Safety Unit. I am here today to testify on behalf of the Maine Department of Public Safety neither for nor against LD 21, An Act To Amend the Motor Vehicle Laws Governing Requisite Tire Size.

LD 21 would eliminate the tire size restrictions for all vehicles in Maine under the premise that this restriction is unnecessary due to another statute that limits frame heights and a current rule that prohibits a tire from making contact with the

frame or body of a motor vehicle under normal operation. This premise is true in some circumstances, but would allow many vehicles to have any size tire the owner opted to put on, as frame height restrictions only include vehicles up to and including those with a GVWR of 1o,ooo lbs. Many 1 ton pickup trucks have a GVWR higher than 1o,ooo lbs. Some trucks commonly referred to as “monster trucks” would become legal tooperate anywhere on Maine roads provided their GVWR was over 1o,ooo lbs.

Current statute allows for a vehicle to be equipped with tire sizes that are up to 2 inches taller than is recommended by the manufacturer of the vehicle. A study by the American Motor Vehicle Administrator’s Association revealed that if a vehicle

is equipped with oversized tires that the stopping distance is measurably increased and that the vehicle could have a propensity to roll over during violent steering

3 maneuvers. Although there are several vehicles that the maximum frame height

3 would keep the tire size to within a couple inches of the manufacturer’s recommendations, there are several vehicles under 10,000 lbs. GVVVR that LD 21 would allow to have tires that were 5 or 6 inches taller than recommended by the manufacturer, but still under the maximum frame height thus creating a potential risk of being involved in a crash due to the increased stopping distance as well as the increased risk of rolling over due to the higher center of gravity.

Truck and automobile manufacturers spend millions in vehicle engineering and testing annually to ensure that their vehicles are as safe as possible and meet NHTSA’s crash testing requirements as well as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. During this process the manufacturer tests the vehicles with a particular size tire or range of tire sizes. Significantly changing these tire sizes can lead to unpredictability in a vehicles handling.

On behalf of the Department of Public Safety and the Maine State Police, I thank youifor your time and would be happy to try and answer any questions that you might have.

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