Highway safety advocates today launched the latest campaign to block an increase in truck size and weights on U.S. highways. 

The Truck Safety Coalition released a state-by-state breakdown based on the number of truck-related fatalities per 100,000 population in 2007. Missouri ranked No. 16 at 2.31 deaths per 100,000 population, earning the group’s ”deadly” rating. Illinois ranked No. 37 with 1.2 deaths.

The stats were released at a news conference in Washington, D.C. unveiling a new web site, StopBiggerTrucks.org. Families of fatal truck crash accidents also appealed for Congress to hold the line on truck weights and sizes. In addition to raising weight limits, shippers and some trucking industry officials support expanding the number of states where longer double- and triple-trailer trucks can drive.

The coalition wants to freeze the existing gross weight limits of 80,000 pounds and 53-foot maximum lengths for tractor-trailer trucks using the interstate highway system.

“I don’t blame the truck drivers at all,” said Joan Claybrook, board chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH). “The problem is the rules. It is so much harder for these drivers to control the big trucks.”

The American Trucking Associations said the highways would be safer with the larger trucks.

A congressional bill would authorize states to permit single-trailer trucks to weigh in at 97,000 pounds, provided they have a sixth axle with increased braking capability, said Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the ATA.

The ability to carry more cargo  also would reduce the number of trucks on the highways, trucking industry advocates say, thus making things safer and relieving congestion.

Breaking down traffic deaths by population is a “totally bogus statistic,” Boyce said, because it skews the results toward less-populous states crisscrossed by interstate highways. The most dangerous state in the Truck Safety Coalition report was Wyoming.

When measured by vehicle-miles traveled, trucking has gotten safer since 1965, he said. Besides school buses, trucks have the lowest crash rate of any vehicle type.

“The industry,” he added, “is concerned about public safety.”