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 Big trucks are regularly operated with safety defects. A random sample found that 76% of trucks involved in crashes had broken, substandard, or defective parts.15 In both 2007 and 2008, more than one of every five trucks that were inspected was placed out of service for deficiencies that prevented it from continuing to operate.16 The Large Truck Crash Causation Study released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that 29% of the trucks studied had brakes out of adjustment.17 Poorly maintained trucks are almost twice as likely to crash as properly maintained ones.18 |
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The safety of heavy trucks has not improved compared to overall highway crash statistics.19 Our elected officials’ first priority must be to make existing trucks safer, not bigger and heavier.
15 I.S Jones and H.S. Stein, “Defective Equipment and Tractor-Trailer crash Involvement,” Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, VA 1987, p.16 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2619856
16 FMCSA 2005, CVSA 2006
17 Large Truck Crash Causation Study Report to Congress, FMCSA, March 2006.
18 Jones and Stein, p. 474.
19 U.S. DOT FARS, 1975-1995; see DOT Traffic Safety Facts 1995, Table 3, Figure Z.