Truck Safety Hearing Set For Tuesday

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WASHINGTON (AP) — In 1998 there was celebration as U.S. airlines transported more than 600 million passengers without a single fatality. That same year, 5,355 people died on the nation's highways in truck-related accidents, but there was little public outcry.

That disparity in reaction, as well as a discussion of ways to make trucks more safe, are at the heart of a congressional hearing Tuesday bringing together crash victims, traffic safety experts and representatives of the trucking industry.

"The trucking industry dismisses these figures by noting that the per vehicle-mile death rate has gone down. They're right," Rep. Frank Wolf, (R-Va.), who arranged the hearing, said when he proposed trucking legislation earlier this month.

"What would our response be if the aviation industry suggested that only 5,355 people died in airline crashes? What if we rationalized that as a percentage of miles traveled, there has been a reduction in fatalities? There would be outrage in America," Wolf said.

The bill offered by Wolf, chairman of the Appropriations transportation subcommittee, would shift oversight of the Office of Motor Carriers, which supervises truck safety, from the Federal

ighway Administration to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

While both agencies are under the umbrella of the Transportation Department, Wolf believes the road-building highway administration is less concerned about automotive safety than the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, known for its drunken driving, seat belt and red light-running campaigns.

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater opposes the move, saying all agencies in his department already work together to improve transportation safety.

Among those scheduled to testify today were Bonnie Pierce, mother of a North Carolina boy killed in a truck accident, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall and Walter B. McCormick Jr., president of American Trucking Associations.

Also testifying was Mark Edwards, managing director of traffic safety for the American Automobile Association.

"When one considers that we not even have a reliable estimate on the number of large trucks that crash each year, it is clear that improved data will guide Congress in making appropriate

nvestments to address truck safety issues with certainty and science," said a text of Edwards' remarks.

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