The U.S. Senate will soon be voting on the multi-year, multibillion-dollar Surface Transportation Investment Act, S.2016.
Tucked into the Senate bill is a dangerous provision championed by trucking special interests. If enacted into law, a Senate provision will lower the minimum age of interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers and allow a group of 3,000 teens to drive large trucks weighing as much as 80,000 pounds across state lines.
Our son Jasen Swift and his friend Dustin Boesch were killed by a 17-year-old truck driver in a preventable crash. It is impossible to imagine a more dangerous proposal. Commercial motor vehicle drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 are six times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes than all other truck drivers.
We strongly oppose this pilot program (experiment) proposed in S.2016. If this law is passed, truck crash deaths and injuries will continue to increase. Also, the shortage of truck drivers is a myth.
Data show that 18- to 20-year-old drivers are more likely to crash, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has not analyzed data on current 18- to 20-year-old commercial motor vehicle drivers operating in intrastate commerce.
Don’t let your family become a terrible statistic from this crazy experiment on our highways.
In 2019, over 5,000 people were killed and 150,000 injured in large-truck crashes in the U.S. Putting teens behind the wheel of a big rig is reckless and will lead to more deaths and suffering. Please join me in urging Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins to remove the “Teen Trucking” provision from S.2016.
Russ Swift
co-chair, Parents Against Tired Truckers; board member, Truck Safety Coalition
Wales
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