Jacked-Up Trucks Can Be Hazards On The Road Legislation Would Put Limits On How High Off The Ground Bumpers Can Be Placed

Paul Browne might be alive today if a proposed state law limiting the height of truck bumpers had been in effect two years ago.

Browne, of Coeur d’Alene, was decapitated when his car was hit head-on on U.S. Highway 95 by a jacked-up truck that crossed the center line.

“Motor vehicles are being modified to a point where the bumper is no longer effective,” said Rep. June Judd, D-St. Maries, who is sponsoring the legislation.

The bumpers on the truck that hit Browne’s Honda Accord were at least a foot above usual height, and Idaho State Police officers agreed the accident probably would not have been fatal if the truck hadn’t been lifted.

“I think Paul might have been injured, but he wouldn’t have been dead,” said state police Cpl. Sean Daly.

Under Judd’s bill, bumpers on passenger cars would be allowed as high as 22 inches off the pavement (measured to the bottom of the front and back bumpers). Bumpers on trucks weighing less than 4,500 pounds - most of the pickups on the road - would be limited to 24 inches in the front and 26 inches in the rear.

Judd said the Idaho State Police helped her draft the bill.

Chris Browne, Paul Browne’s mother, also supports Judd’s legislation. Jacking up a truck, she said, “turns a fender bender into a serious accident.”

The American Association of Motor Vehicles recommends a standard height for stock cars’ fenders. The purpose of that recommendation, said Judd, is to make sure that if you do bump another car, the damage can be absorbed.

But with jacked-up trucks, she said, “you know where that bumper is going to hit your car.”

And lifting trucks can cause more problems than just more serious accidents. Oversized tires can cause the speedometer to register a slower speed than actually is being traveled. That causes confusion for police officers and drivers and potentially increases the likelihood of serious accidents.

Ken Chambers, general manager of Idaho Four Wheel Drive in Boise, said jacked-up trucks in general aren’t a safety problem. The real problem, he said, is how the truck is lifted. Some home mechanics put lift blocks in the wrong place, creating a danger when the blocks slip out. Some just don’t pay enough attention to the steering, leaving it loose and dangerous on the road.

“Issues like that are more important to me than bumper height,” said Chambers.

Bumpers already must be 4-1/2 inches high under the law.

Many factory vehicles, Chambers said, come with smaller bumpers, but because they’re factory-issue, they’re not illegal.

“If the truck is made that way, it’s legal, but if a person makes it that way, it’s illegal. It may have come that way, but does that make it safer?” asked Chambers.

But Rep. Doc Lucas, R-Moscow, said jacked-up trucks just aren’t worthwhile.

“They are a menace and we ought to get rid of them,” he said.

The House voted 60-9 last week to pass the bill to the Senate.

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