LISBON — As the sun started to set on a long day of celebrating, a crowd of over 100 natural and honorary Newfoundlanders gathered on Daphne and Steve Izer’s lawn to watch as a batch of new honorary Newfies were sworn in. Bill Flaherty, dressed as a Newfoundland sea captain, presided as the seven inductees […]
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Posted inMaine
Truck-safety advocate criticizes Collins on budget fix additions
LEWISTON — The founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers said provisions that Sen. Susan Collins wants to add to a federal budget bill would “jeopardize the safety of everyone.” Daphne Izer of Lisbon, whose teenage son was killed by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel in October 1993, said relaxing rest standards for […]
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Posted inMaine
High-profile crash in New Jersey renews call to maintain trucker rest regulations
A high-profile fatal accident on the New Jersey Turnpike has Maine’s U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and some of the state’s top advocates for trucking safety squaring off in the national spotlight. The crash on June 7 killed comic James McNair, who goes by the stage name Jimmy Mack. Seriously injured in the crash was former […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Trucker awake for more than 24 hours before crash that killed one, injured one
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A truck driver accused of triggering a highway crash that injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian hadn’t slept for more than 24 hours before the accident, authorities said Monday as Morgan recovered in a hospital. Wal-Mart trucker Kevin Roper is expected to appear in state court Wednesday. It was unclear […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Izer of Lisbon to receive national honors
Daphne Izer, founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers, will be recognized by the White House as a 2014 Transportation Champion of Change, according to a Truck Safety Coalition news release Monday. Izer of Lisbon lost her teenage son, Jeff, in 1993 when a sleeping truck driver rolled his tractor-trailer onto a small car carrying Jeff […]
Posted inMaine
Truckers say safety a priority
HERMON — Truckers passing through Maine say they keep safety at the front of their minds all the time because their livelihood is at stake. “That’s No. 1. If you’re not safe, you’re not going to get to where you’re going,” said Duane Laybolt, a truck driver from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, who had taken a […]
Posted inMaine
20 years after tragic Maine crash, parents still honoring son
LISBON — News that changes your life comes in an instant and sometimes it breaks your heart. Daphne and Steve Izer remember well the night the police came to their door 20 years ago. It was just before 11 p.m. on Oct. 10, 1993, a Sunday. He was watching TV. She had just stood to go to […]
Posted inLetters
Put safety first, foremost
The one-year experiment of allowing 100,000-pound trucks on the Interstate should be terminated. The pilot program currently allows Maine and Vermont trucks to circumvent the federal weight limit of 80,000 pounds and run as heavy as 100,000 pounds on the interstates. Maine’s interstate bridges were not designed for 100,000-pound trucks. According to DOT, Maine is […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Steve Izer retires from trucking review board
AUGUSTA — Tuesday morning will be the last meeting Steve Izer attends as a founding member of a trucking safety review board he and his wife helped bring about after the 1993 crash that killed their 17-year-old son. “I think it’s in good hands. All the people from trucking, there hasn’t been any partiality at […]
Posted inLetters
Exceeds federal law
“A third of the bridges in states between Maine and West Virginia need help,” as stated in the Dec. 27 Sun Journal editorial, is right on target. As a matter of fact, 36 percent of Maine’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2009). Yet U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and […]