Greetings!
This
morning, the House of Representatives will vote on amendments to the
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Bill Fiscal Year
2015. Congressman Daines (R-MT) is offering an anti-truck safety
amendment to block any increase in minimum insurance requirements for
truck carriers.
Every year on average 4,000 people die in truck crashes and 100,000 more are injured at a cost of at least $87 billion.
Crashes
involving multiple deaths and injuries, similar to the recent tragic
crashes in New Jersey and California, happen every week. The total
combined damages from these crashes far exceed the current minimum
insurance requirements.
The families who suffer terrible losses and injuries should not have to also bear the financial burden of these crashes.
TAKE action now:
Please call your Congressman ASAP and Urge them to:
REJECT THE DAINES AMENDMENT WHICH WOULD BLOCK AN INCREASE TO MINIMUM INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS
To find your Representative and their contact information, please click here.
Talking Points:
We
urge you to oppose the Daines amendment that would block an increase in
minimum insurance requirements for motor carriers in the THUD bill for
fiscal year 2015.
Minimum Insurance Levels for Motor Carriers Need to be Increased
- Minimum
levels of insurance for trucks, currently set at $750,000, have
not been increased in over 30 years and are woefully insufficient.
- Consequently a portion of the damages and losses
caused by motor carriers who carry insurance at or near the minimum
is imposed upon the American motoring public.
- The
underinsured segments of the industry are effectively subsidized
by American taxpayers through unreimbursed social welfare programs
including Medicaid and Social Security.
- If all of
the industry were required to absorb more of the losses they
cause, significant changes in the industry would occur, resulting
in safer highways for all.
FMCSA Report Supports an Increase in Minimum Financial Responsibility
- In
April 2014, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
released a report on its review of minimum financial responsibility that
found current levels to be inadequate.
- It
found that costs for severe and critical injury crashes can easily
exceed $1 million, that current limits do not adequately cover
catastrophic crashes and acknowledged that medical care inflation would
increase levels to at least $3.2 million.
Additional Reports Support Increasing Minimum Financial Responsibility
- Pacific
Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) - This report found that
the upper range for liability awards involving death or catastrophic
injury is $9-10 million, and recommended that DOT set limits per crash
of at least $10 million.
- Trucking Alliance Review
of Crash Settlements - Member companies of the Trucking Alliance
voluntarily tracked 8,692 accident settlements between 2005 and 2011.
According to the Trucking Alliance, 42 percent of the injury claims
could have had no avenue for offsetting all medical costs.
The Daines amendment would inappropriately block a regulatory process that Congress directed.
- Congress
gave the DOT Secretary and FMCSA the authority to review the minimum
insurance level, and the rule making process, including public comments,
should be respected and followed.
- MAP-21
directed the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to review minimum
financial responsibility requirements for motor carriers. The Daines amendment would inappropriately block changes necessitated by this review.
The
losses of lives and injuries in the recent tragic crashes in California
and in New Jersey are just two examples of the potential for large
damages in truck crashes.
The American public should not be forced to subsidize the damages in these crashes.
OPPOSE THE DAINES AMENDMENT
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment