Each year, trucking associations in America spend $20 million to lobby Congress to relax or change safety regulations that affect all commercial carriers. Sometimes the trucking industry is able to slip amendments into large legislative bills that the public may not even be aware of.

For example, an amendment that would undo truck driver sleep regulations, which mandate how much sleep drivers need to have before they drive again, was inserted into the full 2016 Congressional spending bill without any discussion.

Also, the commercial trucking industry is advocating truck safety changes that most of us disagree with. Some of the proposals that the trucking lobby is pushing include:

• Dropping the truck driving age limit to 18.
• Increasing gross weight limit to 90,000 pounds.
• Allowing rigs to be up to 80 feet long.
• Allowing truckers to drive more than 80 hours per week, up front the current 70 hours.

The industry is also fighting against federal motor safety ratings and against studies that link sleep apnea with a higher rate of truck crashes.

Our truck crash personal injury law firm has years of experience and successful results in handling lawsuits brought by the victims of terrible truck crashes, and the last thing the country needs is to relax trucking safety regulations.

We know a great deal about the safety regulations passed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and it is very important that truckers follow these rules. For example, federal regulation Section 393 provides an overview of what has to be on a big rig when it is on the road.

Many trucking companies do not comply with this section to save money. Our truck wreck lawyers in Virginia have seen truck crashes where the tires were bald and underinflated, or the truck had bad brakes. Given that trucking companies violate such major rules, it isn’t a good idea to relax other safety rules for the commercial trucking industry.

If you are hurt in a truck crash, please be sure to review our free Truck Accident Injury Guide.