There were numerous safety victories when Congress passed the transportation funding bill for 2006, and the bill includes funding levels for NHTSA’s rulemaking program that surpass the Administration’s request. In another victory, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration failed to codify the dangerous hours of service regulations discussed above, and no special interest exemptions to weaken the truck size and weight requirements or the hours of service rule were allowed. Finally, the U.S. Department of Transportation must continue collecting motor carrier financial information, a task they had previously ended for one year. There is a direct correlation between the financial health of a company and its compliance with safety standards.
The new transportation funding bill also adopts language requiring NHTSA to evaluate educational programs and other methods that will lead to the decrease of backover incidences, such as those that occur when small children are hit by vehicles backing up.
IN-DEPTH:Follow this link to read the entire bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-3058
