Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

The Senate and House on June 29, 2012 that advances highway and auto safety in the multiyear, multi-billion dollar surface transportation authorization bill, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), H.R. 4348. The safety provisions will prevent crashes, save lives, reduce injuries, and save taxpayer dollars.

A partial list of Safety successes include:

•  Incentive grant program to encourage state enactment of laws to address teen driving, distracted and impaired driving and occupant protection.
• For the first time in 40 years, DOT is required to issue vehicle safety standards to improve occupant protection on motorcoaches including seat belts, roof crush strength, anti-ejection window glazing, tire pressure monitoring and rollover protection, These are all NTSB recommendations that have never been implemented. DOT is also directed to conduct research and testing on fire prevention standards, interior impact protection, compartmentalization and crash avoidance systems, and, if appropriate, issue rules. 
• Tougher oversight and increases in the maximum penalties for violations of motor carrier safety rules such as reincarnated carriers and out-of-service orders.
• A mandate that interstate trucks and buses be equipped with electronic-on-board recorders (EOBRs) to improve safety, enforce hours of service (HOS) rules and prevent cheating in paper logbooks.
• Child safety measures including regulatory actions on rear seat belt reminders, the performance of child safety seats in frontal and side impact crashes, improvements to the LATCH or child seat anchor system, reminder systems for unattended children left in rear seating postions and consumer information on the performance of child safety seats in side impact crashes.
• Increased fines for automakers that mislead the agency on safety defects, whistleblower protections and improved consumer information on vehicle safety problems.
• A two-year study of the safety and infrastructure impacts of allowing bigger, heavier trucks on highways. This study was included because safety groups beat back attempts by well-funded and well-organized special interests to repeal the freeze on double-and triple-trailer trucks and increase truck weights nationwide from the current limit of 80,000 lbs. to 97,000 lbs.