WASHINGTON / CATHERINE COLLINS : Congress May Get Moving on Truck Safety When the New Session Starts

When Congress starts to roll again in the next session, truck safety will be one of the issues at the top of the agenda.

More people die in accidents involving commercial trucks each year than in all mishaps involving airplanes, trains and ships combined, according to a recent report by the General Accounting Office.

The trucking industry includes 185,000 carrier companies, 3.6 million trucks and annual revenue of more than $225 billion. The trucks travel 100 billion miles a year.

Since 1981, large trucks have been involved in an average of 330,000 serious accidents each year, resulting in 4,500 fatalities and $6 billion in economic losses annually, the GAO report said. Although these trucks account for 4.5% of all vehicle miles driven, they are involved in 10% of all highway accidents.

“Such accidents may have numerous contributing factors,” the report said. “But many are caused by driver violations, mechanical defects or a combination of these factors.”

The federal government has regulated the trucking industry for 50 years through the Federal Highway Administration, which is part of the Department of Transportation. Federal safety regulations cover standards for vehicles and drivers.

An integral part of the federal safety program involves roadside vehicle and driver inspections. The inspections focus on mechanical violations, such as defective brakes, and driver infractions, such as driving too many hours. If either the vehicle or the driver is found in violation, a citation is issued and the driver is supposed to stop and correct the problem immediately.

Earlier this year, the House Committee on Public Works asked the GAO to evaluate how well the inspection program is working. Investigators found that many citations are ignored and that too often states do not follow through to see that violations are corrected.

The only required follow-up is a certification from the carrier.

In examining five states, the GAO found a noncompliance rate of 12%, with individual states running as high as 53%. California was not among the states.

The GAO recommended increased use of follow-up procedures by states, improved use of a nationwide computer to track out-of-state violators and stiff penalties for drivers and companies that ignore citations.

Agency Seeks Ban on Big Rigs’ Radar Finders

The Department of Transportation wants to impose a nationwide ban on the use of radar detectors in commercial trucks involved in interstate commerce. The department has proposed the ban in a rule-making procedure and is seeking public comment before it is imposed.

There is strong sentiment in Congress for such a ban, and eight safety and trucking industry groups have petitioned the Federal Highway Administration for it.

They argue that the elimination of radar detectors will improve compliance with speed limits as well as reduce accidents.

Fish Inspection Debate Has Small-Scale Humor

“A chicken is not a fish. It’s not even a crawfish,” Rep. Billy Tauzin (D-La.) said in one of the lightest exchanges in the House last week--as Congress approved the deficit-reduction package.

After a raucous debate about two very different bills to expand the federal seafood inspection program, the House voted 277 to 153 in favor of legislation written jointly by its Merchant Marine and Energy and Commerce committees. It rejected a measure modeled after Senate legislation.

The plan would create a shellfish inspection program and give the Administration 18 months to come up with one for all seafood. Under the House bill, the Food and Drug Administration would operate the program; the Senate’s measure would have put it under the Department of Agriculture, which inspects meat and poultry.

House leaders objected to giving control to Agriculture. Rep. Silvio Conte (R-Mass.) suggested, tongue in cheek, that it was part of a plot to drive up the cost of seafood so more meat and poultry would be consumed.

The differences between the two bills could not be ironed out in a conference committee so the issue died when Congress adjourned. But fish inspection is not dead in the water. Dingell’s staff promised to take it up next session.

Truth-in-Savings Bill Is Likely to Be Revived

Another consumer measure that died in conference committee but is expected to resurface next year is one to help people choose the savings account that offers the best return on their money.

The Truth in Savings and Investment Act, approved by the Senate, was the fourth in a series of bills introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). It is designed to push banks toward more complete disclosure of financial terms to consumers.

In addition to establishing standardized methods for calculating the balance to which interest is applied, the bill set strict standards for advertised disclosure of annual percentage yields, minimum balance and time requirements, minimum initial deposits and conditions that reduce the yield, and penalties for early withdrawal.

“The average consumer has been barraged by a variety of terms and conditions that are mind-numbing,” said Dodd, a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “This bill will clear up that confusion.”

The U.S. League of Savings Institutions, which represents thrifts, supports the concept. But James Grohl, a senior vice president at the league, said, “If there is to be such a law, then it should apply uniformly to anybody in the business of taking retail deposits.”

Dodd plans to introduce the measure again next year.

Unique Plan to Aid U.S. Workers Is Derailed

Before Congress approved the first comprehensive revision of immigration laws in six decades, the House Ways and Means Committee removed a provision that would have required businesses hiring foreign workers to pay up to $1,000 per foreign worker to educate or retrain American workers.

The head tax, which had strong backing from labor, was designed to balance the benefits to employers of recruiting immigrants with the needs of Americans looking for new jobs, said Rep. Bruce A. Morrisson (D-Conn.), the sponsor.

The law will increase the number of people allowed to enter the United States by 40% and change the mix of job skills and ethnic backgrounds of those people. When it goes into effect in 1992, the number of immigrants allowed to enter for jobs will double.