Keep on Trucking...

As the megapolitans of our country keep absorbing countryside and the nodal connections are now several-laned highways where people drive in high-density traffic at 80 mph, accidents are bound to occur. What few people recognize is that accidents involving 18-wheelers transporting toxic waste out of industrial hubs now threaten the lives of the large populations that live clustered around major transport zones.

Why should we worry? Certainly the current Administration doesn't. In fact, the Bush Administration supported the relaxing of the safety regulations governing the trucking industry — in particular those that govern the number of hours drivers can keep trucking. According to a N.Y. Times article published on Dec. 3rd, "Largely unchecked by the Republican-led Congress, federal agencies, often led by former industry officials, have methodically reduced what they see as inefficient, outdated regulations and have delayed enforcement of others."

More damning, "Mr. Bush then appointed Michael P. Jackson, a former top official at the trucking associations, as deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation. To lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the president picked Joseph M. Clapp, the former chairman of Roadway, a trucking company, and the leader of an industry foundation that sponsored research claiming fatigue was not a factor in truck accidents, a conclusion at odds with government and academic studies."