Texas Insurance Defense and Litigation

States beginning to restrict truck traffic

USA Today recently published a story discussing how many states are banning big trucks from specific lanes of highways:

Florida has already taken action, banning big trucks from the far left lane of Interstate 4 on a 60-mile stretch between Tampa and Orlando. Stretches of I-75 and I-95 elsewhere in Florida have similar restrictions. Elsewhere:

•Georgia, where truck traffic is likely to grow by more than 50% over the next 20 years, is considering truck-only toll lanes on parts of I-75 northwest of Atlanta and on a 20-mile stretch of the I-285 beltway that surrounds the city.

•Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio are using a $5 million federal grant to study adding truck-only lanes on I-70 from Kansas City to Columbus, Ohio.

•California, Arizona, Texas and the Gulf Coast states will use a similar grant to study segregating truck and automobile traffic on stretches of I-10.

•Tennessee is eyeing truck-only lanes on I-40.

After medical malpractice caps, more doctors moving to Texas

The New York Times today reports that more doctors are moving to Texas after the adoption of medical malpractice caps a couple of years ago:

Four years after Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment limiting awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, doctors are responding as supporters predicted, arriving from all parts of the country to swell the ranks of specialists at Texas hospitals and bring professional health care to some long-underserved rural areas.

The influx, raising the state’s abysmally low ranking in physicians per capita, has flooded the medical board’s offices in Austin with applications for licenses, close to 2,500 at last count.

...

“Doctors are coming to Texas because they sense a friendlier malpractice climate,” he said.