Truck accidents take over 3000 lives a year on America's roads. And over 50,000 people a year are injured, according to the most recent federal data on large truck accidents.

Even in nonfatal accidents, these injuries tend to be very serious, simply because of the size differential between tractor trailers and passenger cars.

That's why the legislation pending in Congress on truck safety is so important. The proposals include:

• Required use of electronic onboard recorder to replace written logs

• Mandatory "speed limiter" devices to keep trucker speed to 65 mph

• Enhanced authority for federal regulators to revoke carrier registration after sanctions for safety violations

Use of the onboard recorder would provide more transparency about the number of hours that truckers actually drive. In the past, it has been all-too tempting for truckers to alter written logbooks to cover up hours of service violations.

The "speed limiter" device requirement is comparable to a rule already being worked out at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA is working with truck industry and truck safety groups to craft such a rule.

The only real difference between the proposal in Congress and the emerging NHTSA rule concerns how far back a retrofit requirement should extend. The proposal in Congress calls for retrofit of trucks back to 1990. The American Trucking Association has asked that it go back only to 1992.

The main thing is that there is much that can be done to improve truck safety. Driving in Colorado and elsewhere in the U.S. would be safer if common sense tools like electronic onboard recorders and speed limiters became the norm.

Source: "Senate Highway Reauthorization Draft Addresses Truck Safety Issues," Truckinginfo, 8-19-11