PEABODY — A trio of state legislators representing the city are calling for a ban on car carriers unloading on public ways, which they say present traffic and safety issues.
State Reps. Tom Walsh and Sally Kerans and state Sen. Joan Lovely filed a bill to bar the maneuver, which they dubbed hazardous. The bill, “An act relative to loading and alighting vehicles from car carriers on public ways,” was filed by Walsh, Kerans, and Lovely in part as a response to the frequency of car carriers parking on Route 114 and Route 1 to ferry vehicles to nearby dealerships. Lovely’s district includes Peabody, while Kerans’ includes West Peabody and Walsh’s contains the rest of city.
“Like many Peabody residents who drive on Route 114, I experience firsthand the risky and dangerous practice of car carriers unloading their vehicles in the center lane and driving across several lanes of oncoming traffic to reach the dealerships,” Walsh said in a statement. “To protect roadway user safety, we filed this common-sense legislation to explicitly outlaw this practice and provide our police the tools they need to enforce the law accordingly.”
Walsh, in written testimony sent to the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Transportation — state Sen. Brendan Crighton and state Rep. William Strauss — said the legislation simply requires that car carriers not park on a public way as a means of delivering cars to a dealership. When carriers do park on public ways, drivers are often forced to take evasive action on short notice to avoid crashing into the “haphazardly parked” car carrier and the vehicles being unloaded, which are frequently driven perpendicular to traffic on their way to the dealership destinations.
Under House Bill 3472, a car-carrier operator that is found parked on a public roadway and unloading vehicles will be subject to a $250 fine for abandoning a motor vehicle and a potential license suspension, and the carrier company is subject to forfeiting their carrying permit.
Walsh wrote that the practice occurs statewide, and the City Council has already taken steps to bar car carriers from parking on Route 114 and Route 1.
The bill would “not only reduce the potential for accidents and collisions involving car carriers, but enactment will also reduce congestion caused by these carriers unloading in an inappropriate location,” Walsh wrote. “As the safety of all road users is of the utmost importance, this legislation takes a significant step towards increasing the safety on our roadways by penalizing both the carrying company as well as the operator of the offending car carrier to deter continued violations.”
Kerans said the focus is on improving safety on Route 114, adding “any observer can see the danger when a car carrier unloads in the middle of Andover Street.”
Lovely said she was grateful to have partnered with Walsh and Kerans to eliminate the “unnecessary hazard.”
“The safety of motorists and pedestrians should be paramount on Route 114,” she said.
House Bill 3472 is currently before the Joint Committee on Transportation for consideration.
Anyone interested in learning more about this legislation is encouraged to contact Walsh at 617-722-2410 or by email at [email protected].
