to today 's big rigs -- an action it says will allow higher load limits and lead to safer roads . Adding an axle would give big rigs 22 wheels , up from the current 18 . Without the change , `` more trucks will have to take to the road '' to handle rising cargo demand , said John Runyan , co-chairman of the truck cargo industry group . Runyan was at the back of the room during the other group 's news conference , where families gave tearful accounts of losing loved ones in truck wrecks . One of those couples , Mark and Tracy Quinichett , lost their 21-year-old daughter a few months ago when a truck 's wheel flew off and crashed through the windshield of her car on the Capital Beltway outside Washington . `` The larger the trucks -- it 's just so much more dangerous . And if they are allowed to make these trucks larger , it 's going to be a real , real problem , even more than it is right now , '' Mark Quinichett said . Runyan told CNN that going from 18 wheels to 22 wheels would
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Safety advocates are fighting efforts to allow tractor-trailers to carry heavier loads on highways , saying the trucks are already too dangerous . But at least one group says adding an axle would improve safety margins so such loads can be carried . Mark and Tracy Quinichett , whose daughter was killed in a wreck , speak Monday against raising trucks ' load limits . `` It is a public health crisis , '' policy activist Joan Claybrook said Monday , announcing a petition drive to fight larger loads that could be authorized as part of a transportation bill moving through Congress . At a Monday news conference , Claybrook -- who chaired the National Highway Transportation Administration during the Carter administration -- and her Truck Safety Coalition presented several families who have lost a loved one to a highway accident involving commercial trucks . A new Web site from the coalition , StopBiggerTrucks.org , provides statistics the group believes will persuade people to pressure lawmakers to leave truck limits as they stand . But an industry group , the Coalition for Transportation Productivity , hopes lawmakers will approve a proposal to add an axle