Fender benders usually not devastating I agree..Wrecks in my mind are a bit different animal and thats what I was referring to. I see more auto and light trucks reduced to scrap then larger trucks. I feel the lighter vehicles pose a bigger hazard then heavy truck as there is more of them which results in more of them thinking its all about them and have thrown caution out the window along with their coffee cup. If we are going to have regs, my opinion is we all should be regulated the same.
The reason for the regs in the first place is because of the public outcry over big trucks and the damage they do in accidents. The public is willing to put up with themselves, because despite the number of fatalities, most of those accidents don't result in everyone involved being killed. When a car rear ends you, it's a problem, but when a big truck rear ends you, you're dead.
There used to be a lot more accidents involving trucks than there are now, before drug testing, HoS, inspection and maintenance, etc. But still, when a car, light truck or a van gets into an accident, the chances are that there won't be any fatalities. When a big truck is involved, the chances of fatalities skyrocket. Sure, there are the really bad accidents, but most accidents between cars and light trucks result in either injury or no injuries at all.
As for cars and light trucks being more of a hazard, you're right, of course, and the feds know full well. OSHA's and the FHWA's numbers are the same, which show 85% of all accidents involving big trucks and cars it's the car's fault, and 70% of all fatal accidents involving cars and big trucks are the result of "unsafe actions of automobile drivers."
Automobiles are regulated on the state level. The federal government cannot regulate a state driver's license. It's why the DOT and can only regulate trucks operating in Interstate Commerce, and not those who only operate intrastate. States are free to regulate automobile drivers any way they like, but if you think the public outcry over big trucks was loud, just wait until state legislators start talking about regulating automobile drivers the same way they do big trucks. Random drug tests for private citizens? Good luck with that. HoS? Not gonna happen. They're only left with driver education.
Read the PDF at the link above that Mailer posted. The Conclusions part (about 5 pages down) would read a LOT differently if it applied to commercial motor vehicles. It's about accidents caused by driver medical conditions. "Patient education by health care providers on early warning signs of a health crisis, such as warning signs before seizure attacks, diabetic or hypoglycemic comas and potential side effects of medications are recommended as the most effective countermeasure." Ha! If that were for the FMCSA, the recommendations wouldn't be "education by health care providers," it would be, "Driver Disqualification."
I didnt see Lahoods presentation but Im thinking it may have been somewhat one sided to get his current point across.
You'd think that, and you'd be right, but the van crash data specifically wasn't used in any way to get his point across, it was just a small part of the larger set of crash data that was used to provide support for regulations to combat distracted driving (the hand held cell phone thing, mainly). They focused almost solely on commercial motor vehicles, because that's the only thing they can actually regulate. But as a small part of that data, there was the van crash data, and it was there only because carriers are required to report accidents for vehicles under their control. But it was interesting to see that and then compare it to the FHWA crash statistics for automobiles and light trucks. But I don't think the commercial cargo van numbers were even mentioned at the conference. But, I wasn't there, it was a 2 or 3 day deal. I just looked at the PDF of it.
Your dollar amount for damages is understandable as there are fewer and the dashboard in your van may not cost as much to replace as in a passenger vechicle..I can see repairs/damages being less for vans.
Actually, I was speaking for along the lines of damages done to the other vehicles, not the ones who caused the accidents. A car, light truck or a van hits another vehicle, and it's not a lock that the other vehicle will be totaled. But a big trucks hits a car and the car instantly becomes a piece of sculpture.
