Arkansas Among States Said to Be Lax on Motor Carrier Safety

A new analysis of government data reveals that more than 28,000 motor carrier companies that operate 200,000 trucks have violated federal safety regulations.

The trial bar association, the American Association for Justice (AAJ), said it found commuters are sharing roads with trucks that have incurred thousands of safety violations, such as defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceed weight limits and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependencies.

The group also said that current minimum insurance requirements for truckers are inadequate.

AAJ said it obtained data on the safety performance of U.S. trucking companies from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). States found to have a rate of companies in violation of safety requirements above the national average include West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, Iowa, Montana, Delaware, Idaho, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

According to the FMCSA, more than 4,000 people die every year in collisions with trucks and 80,000 more are seriously injured. Trucks make up less than four percent of all passenger vehicles on U.S. roads but they are involved in 12 percent of all motor vehicle deaths.

AAJ also maintains that the minimum insurance requirements for commercial trucks are “completely inadequate to compensate those who have been seriously injured in a collision involving multiple vehicles or multiple injured individuals.” In 1980, Congress set the minimum level of insurance to $750,000; when adjusted for inflation, $750,000 is just $292,000 in 1980 dollars, according to the analysis.