Retired District Judge Duff McKee has blocked any testimony at the megaloads hearing about past accidents that the hauler, Mammoet Transportation, has had with giant oversized loads. "My take on this ... is the existence of past accidents is really not relevant - accidents happen," McKee declared. Instead, he said, his concern is whether traffic plans adequately cover how to deal with any accident. "If one occurs ... have they anticipated in the traffic plan," he said.

He also refused to allow testimony from lead intervenor Linwood Laughy that a portion of the traffic plan dealing with how to route traffic past an accident was unrealistic because Laughy, who lives on and travels the route, says the road is not wide enough to do what's proposed. McKee said Laughy's not a traffic engineer, and the traffic plan was prepared by traffic engineers.

The judge did allow Laughy's testimony about "public convenience," which Idaho is required to make a primary concern in considering oversize load permits; these loads are so wide they'll block the entire road, making rolling roadblocks. Laughy said it's more a matter of "public inconvenience."

He testified today that in the megaloads permits, ITD defined "traffic delay," which can't exceed 15 minutes, to only include when traffic is stopped by a megaload - not when it's moving slowly behind one. "You could follow a megaload at 5 mph for three hours and never have been delayed, according to this permit," Laughy said. He said he's also been stopped for repeated 10-minute periods, then moved 100 yards up the road for another 10-minute delay, and ITD hasn't considered that more than a 15-minute delay. "I would call that a 20-minute stop," Laughy said. He said the three megaloads that have moved across the route so far all have violated the 15-minute limit on traffic delays. Plus, he said there have been numerous other traffic delays and power outages related to the loads, for everything from raising utility lines to trimming trees to accommodate the high-and-wide loads.

However, McKee upheld objections from lawyers for Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil and Mammoet to letting Laughy say whether he thinks the company's proposed 200-plus megaloads will be able to meet the 15-minute limit on delays, again noting that Laughy isn't a traffic engineer. "I will permit opinion testimony in certain areas," McKee said, "but this isn't one of them."