Washington, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx calling for a focus on truck safety. “The fatal crash between a limousine and a tractor-trailer this past Saturday on the New Jersey Turnpike underscores the importance of implementing sound evidence-based policies that promote public safety on our highways,” Booker wrote.
Specifically, Senator Booker asks DOT to take a careful look at truck size and weight issues as well as hours of service and driver fatigue requirements on truck drivers, both of which could significantly impact safety on highways across America.
New Jersey is the home to an extensive and highly congested transportation infrastructure that provides a critical passage for the movement of goods and people. There were 627 motor vehicle fatalities in the state in 2011 and 6,851 total in a ten year period. The annual economic cost due to motor vehicle crashes is $9.34 billion. There were 3,921 people killed and 104,000 people injured in crashes involving large trucks in 2012. In the previous 10 years (2003-2012), 44,204 people were killed and nearly one million were injured in crashes involving large trucks. Every year on average, over 4,000 people are killed and nearly 100,000 are injured in large truck crashes.
Last month, Senator Booker was joined by colleagues Robert Menendez and Dianne Feinstein in raising concerns with DOT about a controversial study on truck size and weight limits. Full text of Senator Booker’s letters to Secretary Foxx can be accessed here:
Letter to Secretary Foxx on Truck Safety
Letter to Secretary Foxx on Truck Size and Weight Study
To view Senator Booker’s floor speech today on truck safety, please click here.