N.Y. Times Article Criticizes Federal Truck-Safety Oversight

he New York Times criticized trucking industry safety rules in a story published Sunday that the paper said was the first in a series looking at the Bush administration’s deregulation strategy.

The front-page story criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rewrite of drivers’ hours of service rules that took effect in 2004, and pegged some fatal accidents involving trucks to tired drivers and inadequate training.

The Times cited accident figures that showed that the death toll in trucking-related accidents of about 5,000 per year has not risen in the past few years, and that the numbers of deaths per miles traveled has also continued to decline.

The paper also said that many truck drivers falsify their driver logbooks, calling it an “open secret” in the industry.