American Trucking Associations (ATA) President Bill Graves issued the following statement responding to fallacious claims about the safety of the trucking industry:
“For years we’ve seen a number of organizations proselytize about the dangers posed by the trucking industry. These groups have for too long co-opted the legitimate grief of Americans who have tragically lost family members on our nation’s highways in order to advance an agenda designed to hurt our economy and our industry and benefit trucking’s competitors and well-heeled union interests.
“Issues as important as highway safety demand that legitimate stakeholders be honest and upfront with the public and deal with facts and science.
“The fact is, the trucking industry has never been safer – and the continued improvement is due in part to the hours-of-service rule these groups have attempted to litigate and blackmail out of existence. The fact is, while operating under the current hours-of-service rule, trucking has been involved in far fewer fatal and injury crashes, and it has improved its fatality and injury crash rates by 34 and 39 percent respectively.
“In the two years since ATA unveiled its 18-point safety agenda, a comprehensive approach to addressing both primary and secondary causes of highway crashes, these alleged ‘safety’ groups have not made a serious proposal to address trucking safety. Their fix, arbitrarily cut working hours to advance labor’s agenda, and further restrict truck size and weight to advance the railroad’s agenda.
“These same concerned citizens claim to speak for many Americans on the issue of truck productivity, but it seems pretty clear they speak for the railroad industry which lines its pockets at the expense of shippers and consumers they hold hostage. Allowing states the flexibility to make decisions on more productive trucks would not only cut shipping costs during this fragile economic recovery, they would allow trucking to better utilize its safest, most efficient and greenest vehicles.
“ATA, and the entire trucking industry, sympathizes with those who have lost loved ones on our highways. Those who claim to speak for them should be honest about their motives and stop misleading the public to advance a transparent labor and railroad agenda.”
Resources:
ATA’s Graves Provides Facts in Response to Industry Critics’ Attempts to Mislead
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