"WASHINGTON – Two advocacy groups called for tougher federal regulations on trucks while releasing a study that shows U.S. fatalities from truck accidents holding steady at 100 a week.
The Truck Safety Coalition and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways said the latest numbers show that Wyoming, Arkansas and Oklahoma are the deadliest states for truck crashes, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2005.
In 1999, when the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was created, 5,380 people died in crashes with big trucks, said Joan Claybrook, chair of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. In 2005, it was 5,212, she said.
"That figure has barely budged," she said.
The families of truck crash victims this week are lobbying Congress and the Bush administration to create stricter rules."
