I disagree with Brian Parke’s portrayal of the commercial trucking industry’s promotion of road safety and its ability to self-regulate (letter, Dec. 16).

Tractor-trailer drivers have increasingly been seeking and using the narrow, two-lane, often shoulderless residential roads of Lewiston-Auburn, bypassing the commercial routes specifically built for commercial traffic. Is their motivation the safety of others, or to avoid traffic lights and accommodate their own schedules?

As far as the trucking industry’s ability and interest to self-regulate without legislation, the Auburn Police Department has reached out to the general managers of several trucking companies, requesting that tractor-trailers use more appropriate routes at the request of several citizens in the Taylor Pond area of Hotel Road, but the requests have been largely ignored.

Can the public truly believe that the trucking industry will act on the behalf of others in the future when it ignores the request of the city’s police department now?

Deborah Richardson, Auburn

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