There have been many great improvements in truck safety over the past decade. Senator Susan Collins supports those improvements and is working to ensure our nation’s roads and highways continue to become safer. To suggest otherwise is simply untrue.
Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) implemented new rules affecting truck drivers. By the agency head’s own admission, it did so before conducting the proper research, and the result has been unanticipated consequences. Some of these new rules are actually making our nation’s roads less safe by forcing more trucks onto the highways during the congested, daytime hours when roads are crowded with cars and school buses, rather than during the overnight hours when there is far less traffic. Safety statistics show that the incidence of accidents is four times higher during rush hour than during night time.
Sen. Collins proposed a common-sense fix. Her proposal, which passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a overwhelmingly bipartisan 21-9 vote, temporarily suspends two problematic provisions, while a comprehensive study is done to determine if these rules are warranted.
Unfortunately, opponents are misrepresenting the facts. The truth is, as the former head of the FMCSA recently wrote, Collins’ proposal “makes the roads safer.” The National Fraternal Order of Police supports Sen. Collins’ effort because it says, without the study, “it is irresponsible and potentially unsafe to implement the new regulations.”
No one, including Sen. Collins, wants to see changes that would result in less safe roads and it’s disingenuous for opponents to claim otherwise.
Kevin Kelley
Communications Director for
Sen. Susan Collins
Washington, D.C.
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