This week, the Senate’s version of the Infrastructure Bill, proposed by the House of Representatives as the Invest in America Act, was passed (69-30) by the United States Senate. The amended bill will now proceed to the House of Representatives for consideration. See, Senate Amendment 2137 to H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of August 1, 2021 with the full text provided online by KPMG. Both the Senate and the House must agree on an overall version of the Infrastructure Bill before sending the final legislation to the White House for President Biden’s review and signature. Read, “Senate Passes $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill, Handing Biden a Bipartisan Win,” written by Emily Cochrane and published in the New York Times on August 10, 2021.
For workers in the trucking industry as well as safety organizations and advocates for accident victims in this country, there are dangerous gaps in the Senate Infrastructure Bill that fail to correspond to the House version (HR 3684).
Comparison of Infrastructure Bills as They Impact Risk of Serious and Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes
The Senate version has removed critical items impacting the safety of commercial truck drivers and those who share the roads with them, both in Indiana and Illinois as well as the rest of the nation. Specifically, the Senate has removed or modified the following safety provisions for interstate trucking:
Trucking Companies Get to Keep Outdated Liability Insurance Minimums
The Senate refused to consider any increase whatsoever for the minimum amount of liability insurance that commercial truck motor carriers have to carry under federal law. The House proposal of an increase to $2,000,000.00 from the current unacceptably low $750,000.00 has not been included in the Senate package.
For more, read: Will 1980 Legal Minimums for Truck Crash Liability Insurance Coverage Finally Be Increased by Congress?
Truck Parking and Drowsy Truck Drivers
The Senate has decided that there will be no federal funding to help with the current truck parking problem in this country. The Senate Amendment has provided no money to help truck drivers looking for a safe place to park a rig and get some rest, to avoid the dangers of drowsy driving.
For more, read: Truck Parking and Fatal Semi Truck Crashes.
Teen Truck Drivers on Our Roads
The Senate Amendment advances the possibility that teenagers will be allowed to drive commercial motor vehicles (big rigs, semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers) on our roadways despite the serious concerns for young and inexperienced individuals behind the wheels of these machines. Specifically, the Senate Amendment provides for an “Apprenticeship Pilot Program” that will consider allowing truckers under the age of 21 years as professional drivers in interstate commerce. Safety advocates warn of the results:
Despite record truck crash deaths these past 10 years, special interests have been pushing a misguided and reckless proposal to allow teen drivers to operate a big rig in interstate commerce. This illogical change in the minimum driving age for interstate commercial vehicle operators is an industry solution to addressing a large turnover of truck drivers. However, the Department of Labor and other sources have shown that the problem is not too few drivers but is more closely related to excessively long driving and work hours, unreasonable working conditions and low pay. The Senate bill includes a flawed and deficient “apprenticeship program” that could allow for more than 35,000 teens to drive 80,000-pound rigs at high speeds across state lines.
For more, read: Will Teen Drivers 18 -20 Years Old Be Driving Semi-Trucks on Indiana and Illinois Interstates?
The Danger of Serious and Fatal Truck Crashes Must Be Addressed
The danger of someone being permanently harmed or killed in a commercial vehicle accident or semi-truck crash in this country is unacceptably high. The risk is even greater here in our “Crossroads of America,” where the roads of Indiana and Illinois have such a high volume of semi-truck traffic.
See:
- Different Types of Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents and Tractor-Trailer Crashes
- Commercial Truck Crashes: FMCSA’s New Study Because of Rising Number of Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents
- Speeding and Serious or Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes in Illinois or Indiana
- Marijuana Semi-Truck Crashes: Pot, Cannabis Products, and Commercial Truck Drivers
- Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes and ELDs: Study Shows an Increase in the Number of Truck Accidents
- Truck Crashes: Making the Roads of Indiana and Illinois Safer from Fatal Truck Accidents.
As safety advocates at the National Safety Council, the Truck Safety Coalition, the Center for Auto Safety, and other non-profit organizations explained to the U.S. Senate in their joint letter sent on June 9, 2021 (emphasis added):
Since 2015, when Congress enacted the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, (FAST Act, Pub. L. 114-94), 184,000 people have been killed and 13.7 million injured in highway crashes (2015-2019). Nearly 24,000 of these deaths and 711,000 injuries were caused by truck crashes. The preventable toll on our roads is not abating. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released 2020 preliminary estimates revealing 38,680 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes, marking the highest number of traffic fatalities since 2007 and a seven percent increase over 2019. These crashes are a drain on our economy as well. The cost to society from crashes involving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) was estimated to be $143 billion in 2018, the latest year for which data are available. When adjusted solely for inflation, this figure amounts to over $150 billion. The cost to businesses is substantial as well; the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety calculates the burden to employers at over $72 billion in 2019….
The removal of key federal legislation that would block teen truckers, as well as increasing trucking company liability insurance minimums and providing much needed funding to increase the availability of commercial truck parking in our country only serves to disregard the realities facing all of us on the roads today.
Sadly, this can only result in more needless tragedies involving commercial motor vehicle accidents where crash victims and their grieving loved ones are forced to seek justice through state negligence, wrongful death, and workers’ compensation laws.
For more, read:
- Trucking Companies Liable for Semi-Truck Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
- Nuclear Verdicts in Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes
- Trial Tactics for Plaintiff Semi-Truck Accident Claims: a Practical Guide from Investigation to Trial.
The risk of a severe or deadly semi-truck crash in Indiana or Illinois is infuriatingly high today. The 2021 Senate Amendment removes safety proposals that would reduce that risk. Please be careful out there!
