Truck Fatalities Worse- Expect Higher Loss Costs and Therefore Market Hardening

It's an 18% jump in trucking fatalities in one year. Imagine how that translates to the higher incidence of injury claims.

In a press release issued Friday, the Truck Safety Coalition says truck crash fatalities rose to nearly 4000 in 2010, from 3,380 casualties in 2009. Citing testimony on November 30 from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator, Anne Ferro, before a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the pending truck driver hours of service(HOS) reforms, TSC says the new data supports the position of safety groups, families of truck crash victims,and labor. Those groups have been urging the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Obama Administration to issue a safer truck driver HOS rule to reduce driver fatigue. "This newly released data proves that the 'Trucking Industry Emperor' has no clothes. We already knew that there were no facts or evidence whatsoever that linked the current HOS rule and the recent improvements in truck crash and fatality data. Now it's time for the Obama Administration to do the right thing and protect innocent motorists and truck drivers," said Joan Claybook, Chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. The TSC has joined with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and other safety groups in sending a letter today to the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator, Cass Sunstein, disputing phony claims by the ATA and urging a new, safer HOS rule.

So if you think the trucking business is going to stay away from further regulation, think again. If you don't think the trucking insurance will be hardening, think twice.