Why Aren't Trucking Laws National in Scope?
Road Safe America's mission to make highways safer must be carried out at the national level. That's because individual states currently have their own trucking laws.
States' truck driving laws are typically more lax than federal regulations, and intrastate-only trucking companies are only subject to rules at the state level.
While some of these laws are national in scope and others apply at the state level, the fact is, when individuals are involved in a crash with a truck, they (or their survivors) don't care whether the driver works within the state or interstate. They expect all trucks to be in safe condition and to be driven safely.
Trucking laws and regulations are quite complicated. This makes it difficult for the trucking industry to comply from state to state and also make it impossible or for motorists to know what to expect in terms of baseline safety rules among trucking companies. This is another reason why truck driving laws must be standardized at the national level.
Find out how can you can help change trucking laws
Truck driving laws: Do they make roads safer?
Despite the number of truck accident cases, the federal government has passed very few trucking laws. A number of national rules have been in existence for years for passenger vehicles. For example, NHTSA has recently started requiring truck manufacturers to put self adjusting brakes on new vehicles. These have been required on passenger cars for many years now. A recent promising petition by Road Safe America and a consortium of trucking companies would have the FMCSA require electronic speed governors on commercial trucks set at no more than 68 mph. This petition was put forth in September 2006, and the goal of Road Safe America is to have it incorporated into nationwide truck driving regulations.