Safety Advocates And Crash Victims Families Urge Additional Action To Complete Unfinished Truck Safety Agenda


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: CRASH - (888) 353-4572 or CRASH@trucksafety.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 8, 1996) --- Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), a nationwide truck safety advocacy organization, praised U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena for announcing today two new actions to prevent crashes with big trucks by making them more visible to motorists.

Secretary Pena today revealed the following two U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) actions:

· The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final regulatory rule requiring truck manufacturers to install reflectors or reflective tape on the backs of new large truck trailers by July 1, 1997; and

· The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking expressing the agency's intention to require that large truck trailers already on the highways also be equipped with reflectors or reflective tape. FHWA's retrofit proposal would apply to trailers made before December 1, 1993, which are wider than 6-1/2 feet and have a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 10,000 pounds.

Nighttime side- and rear-impact collisions with tractor-trailers have typically resulted in about 8,700 injuries and 540 deaths annually, according to conservative estimates by NHTSA.

"Secretary Pena's announcement today is very good news for American motorists," said Jack Rendler, executive director of CRASH. "We hear from so many people who lost loved ones in nighttime crashes with big trucks that were not visible until it was too late." Rendler said that "making big trucks more visible to motorists at night and in bad weather will prevent many tragic deaths and disabling injuries."

Rendler cautioned, however, "while this is very good news for American motorists, the truck safety agenda remains far from finished."

CRASH representatives have met with Secretary Pena and DOT staff on two occasions this summer to discuss additional steps that would "have the biggest bang" to improve truck safety. On June 3rd, families of truck crash victims met with Secretary Pena to present him with a list of recommendations for greater truck safety. The families were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the first "Sorrow to Strength" conference, sponsored by CRASH, where they developed the safety agenda.

The "Sorrow to Strength" truck safety agenda calls for a freeze on current truck sizes and weight standards, a reduction in truck driver fatigue, improved truck driver training, an increase in truck safety inspections, new regulations to make trucks more visible to motorists, and better enforcement of truck safety laws already on the books.

After the June 3rd meeting Secretary Pena issued a statement commending the "Sorrow to Strength" participants "...for turning personal tragedy into action that may save lives." The Secretary promised to work with them to make our roads as safe as possible for all Americans."

A delegation of "Sorrow to Strength" families and other CRASH representatives held a follow-up meeting with top FHWA aides on July 26 to further discuss the "Sorrow to Strength" recommendations. In that meeting, the families reminded the officials that each week the number of truck crash fatalities equals the devastation of one airline crash. "The Clinton Administration has adopted a zero tolerance' for airline crashes," said Brenda Berry, whose husband was killed in a truck crash on I-95 in Virginia. "This same concern should be extended to our highways."

CRASH executive director Rendler said "we also need zero tolerance' for any anti-safety measures in next year's reauthorization of the federal highway program," known as the Intermodel Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). "The next federal highway bill should not include any provisions that will further degrade highways safety," Rendler added.

At the July 26 meeting, the safety group encouraged U.S. DOT to:

· Stand firm in the current negotiations with Mexico and Canada and not compromise on any regulations that will reduce safety, including no increases in truck sizes and weights and no increase in the number of hours truckers can drive.

· Back additional federal and state resources for more truck inspections.

· Stop allowing truck driver fatigue studies at FHWA to be carried out by the trucking industry. "Fatigue studies must be done objectively and in dependently, and not by the industry that has a financial gain in the outcome of the research," Rendler said. "The American public has a justified suspicion of health and safety studies being conducted by corporations with a financial stake like the tobacco industry studies on the effects of smoking."

CRASH also is concerned that a proposed FHWA rulemaking to change the way motor carrier companies are rated is flawed. Safety advocates say the proposed rulemaking will hamper the public's ability to know who the bad apples are and will make it easy to avoid an unsatisfactory rating. Rendler added, "this ratings system will result in similar secretive negotiations between companies and FHWA on safety practices that characterized the ValuJet safety evaluations."

The victims' families also expressed their desire for a permanent "victim's advocate" within the Federal Highway Administration to represent their viewpoint. They also pointed out that the Motor Carrier Advisory Committee is not balanced. Of the 21 members, none are victims and only one safety group is represented. They said that at least one half of the committee should consist of representatives of safety groups and victims.

The DOT officials agreed to meet again with CRASH representatives and victims' families in September to further discuss the status of the "Sorrow to Strength" recommendations and the other concerns raised by the safety and victim representatives.

"We are very pleased with the willingness of the department to meet and discuss these issues of mutual concern," said Brenda Berry. "Where the rubber meets the road will be at the September meeting where the FHWA will need to provide more specifics about their legislative and regulatory agenda for fiscal year 1997."