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Advancing Truck Safety
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa was recently awarded the Truck Safety Coalition’s Leadership Award, which acknowledges his work towards advancing truck safety policy and being a champion for truck drivers, truck crash victims and truck crash survivors.
The coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers, honored Hoffa during a Capitol Hill breakfast in May. It was part of the coalition’s biennial Sorrow to Strength conference, which brings together loved ones of truck crash victims and survivors from around the country to meet with lawmakers to discuss advancing truck safety.
A poll conducted by the coalition and unveiled during the conference showed overwhelming support for truck weight limitations. The survey stated 68 percent oppose heavier trucks. The poll also found that 88 percent of Americans don’t think taxpayers should be responsible for paying for infrastructure damage caused by heavier trucks.
The coalition is calling for the passage of The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act, which would freeze current federal truck size and weight limits, close existing loopholes that allow the operation of overweight trucks, and establish an enforcement program to ensure accountability.