Truck Safety Huge Problem On Our Roads

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the rate of truck
accidents
and fatalities has increased.

In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, 3,757 people died in collisions with trucks. That’s an 11.2 percent increase over 2009. Nearly three times as many people die in truck accidents as die in aviation, boating and railroad accidents combined.

The nearly 11 million trucks that travel U.S. roads each year make up only 4.7 percent of all passenger vehicles, yet are involved in 12.4 percent of all fatal crashes. Fatalities (per miles driven) are 17 percent higher for trucks than for passenger vehicles.

This escalating safety issue is driven by an economic model that is fundamentally unsound. Truck drivers – compensated by miles driven, not hours worked – are pushed to ignore safety measures, delay repairs and drive in a fatigued state. Despite the significant and increasing amount of money devoted to trucking inspection, the task of reducing the risks from dangerous trucks is proving too much for regulators. There are simply too many dangers for inspectors to catch. The civil justice system is vital in holding negligent trucking companies accountable,

The civil courts provide compensation to those killed or injured by unsafe trucks. However, archaic insurance rules undermine the economic incentives to safety provided by the courts. The insurance market itself is unable to function properly – offering lower premiums to safe companies and higher premiums to companies with dangerous histories – because
outdated minimum insurance levels keep premiums artifi cially low for even the most
dangerous companies.

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