Fatal crashes involving commercial trucks are increasing across Louisiana and the rest of the nation, and so much so that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken notice – and taken action. In response to rising truck-related deaths on the nation’s roadways, federal regulators have given community, state and government agencies more funding to use to inspect commercial trucks for safety and investigate unsafe trucking practices.
According to CDL Life, the FMCSA announced in June of 2022 that it would dole out more than $463 million in grant funding to help improve safety in commercial trucking. This is a 52% increase in the amount of funding provided for this effort.
Grant details
Each state in the nation secured a certain amount of funding to help combat truck crashes and enhance safety within commercial trucking. Many fatal and nonfatal commercial truck crashes share common characteristics. Some of these characteristics include substance abuse, safety lapses and driver fatigue and inattention. The grant funding seeks to help identify and eliminate some of the factors that often contribute to these truck wrecks.
Truck crash trends
Fatal truck crashes involving semi-trucks are increasing across the nation, rising 13% between 2020 and 2021. Truck crash fatalities are also increasing faster than all other types of roadway fatalities. This highlights a need for more safety measures in the industry. Studies also showed that many fatal truck crashes that took place in 2020 involved larger, heavier commercial trucks.
The grant funding is the result of a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that seeks to reduce and prevent truck and bus crashes across the United States.