Dear Mayor:

On Wednesday, March 24, in Trenton, Federal District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler struck down a New Jersey ban on inter-state heavy truck traffic on secondary and rural roads, where that traffic would pose a serious threat to public safety.

At the request of the League's Heavy Truck Task Force, chaired by Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio, the State had issued restrictions on such traffic. The request came in response to such tragic accidents as the May, 2000 death of Ms. Joan Eschen. Ms. Eschen was killed, as she worked in a Lambertville video store on Route 29, when the driver of a trash truck, bound from Massachusetts to a Pennsylvania landfill, lost control of his vehicle, jumped a curb, and crashed into the store.

The inter-state trucking industry challenged the ban as a discriminatory interference with inter-state commerce. Yesterday, Judge Chesler agreed.

The League has asked Governor McGreevey to appeal this decision, immediately. As soon as the appeal is filed, the League will seek permission to enter the case as a Friend of the Court. On the District Court level, we were granted permission to participate, Amicus Curiae.

"If this ban is not reinstated," said Lambertville Mayor and League Vice President David DelVecchio, "more lives will be needlessly lost. That is far too high a price for anyone to pay, so that a few miles can be shaved off a trip or a few tolls avoided."

For more information on this contact me at 609-695-3481, ext. 22.