Relaxed Trucking Regulations May Contribute to Increased Truck Crashes

There are approximately 5,000 deaths annually in truck related accidents on the United States highways. In addition, there were approximately 114,000 injuries from truck accidents last year.
Despite these staggering numbers, The Bush administration has rejected tougher safety standards and has in fact reduced some safety standards such as how long truckers could be on the road before being required to rest. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration backed by the Bush administration has allowed truckers to be on the road longer, rejected proposals to electronically monitor drivers logs to prevent driver from falsifying their log books which is a widespread practice. This backing of big business over the safety of individuals is part of the reason the Bush administration and the Republican party lost control of Congress in November 2006.