Over the past 20 years (from 1986 to 2006) there has been a 41 percent increase in registered large trucks and an 84 percent increase in miles traveled by large trucks. Over the same time period, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes has declined by 5 percent, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes has declined by more than 41 percent.
The commitment to safety of drivers across our nation has resulted in a 30 year downward trend of highway fatalities involving trucks. The past two years marked the lowest large-truck fatality rate in 30 years.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has led the campaign for tough safety laws that affect every truck driver on the nation’s highways. ATA’s overall safety agenda includes greater education on sharing the road with large trucks, reinstatement of a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph for all vehicles, the adoption of primary safety belt laws in all states and increased traffic enforcement for all vehicles that operate unsafely around large trucks. ATA also supports limiting truck speeds at the time of manufacture.
As a means of further improving highway safety, ATA was instrumental in getting the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) program established. The goal of the program is to ensure that drivers of large trucks and buses are qualified to operate these vehicles and, to remove unsafe and unqualified drivers from the highways. State licensing agencies administer the program which requires them to adopt national minimum testing standards to license a CDL driver. Driving records for all CDL holders are retained in a centralized computer registry to prevent drivers from obtaining multiple licenses, hiding violations and driving status. ATA was also involved in establishing mandatory drug and alcohol testing requirements, increase in roadside safety checks and banning radar detectors from all commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce.
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