‘Frontline’ studies trucking industry
“Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents “America’s Dangerous Trucks.” A story of preventable tragedy, regulatory impotence and lobbying pressure, it offers a solid and, at times, passionately argued case against government inaction.
Anybody who drives a car knows that vehicles have grown safer over the years. Bumpers and airbags have saved thousands from death and disfigurement. An accident that may have been fatal in my old 1964 Ford Falcon might result in barely a scratch in a 2023-model car.
While safety regulations have saved lives and added thousands of dollars to the price of an automobile, more than 5,000 Americans die every year in what are called underride crashes with giant trucks. Since trucks ride higher, accidents in which cars collide with the back or sides of a truck often result in fatalities because the protective bumper and hood slide under the giant vehicle. The point of impact then becomes the windshield and the driver or passenger’s head and shoulders.
These ghastly accidents are hardly a new phenomenon. One safety expert even drags out an article from the 19th century describing identical collisions with old trolley cars. Safety experts and engineers have been testifying before Congress and the Department of Transportation for decades, arguing for bumpers on the side and rear of trucks that would prevent or reduce road fatalities. Laws have been passed, but every time they have been overruled or watered down due to lobbying pressure from the trucking industry. One safety expert describes a law passed late in the Carter administration that was essentially scrapped when Ronald Reagan took office and declared that deregulation was the order of the day. Government, Reagan declared, “was the enemy.”
Correspondent A.C. Thompson interviews safety experts, some of whom spent their entire careers pursuing tighter regulation on trucks. He also interviews former employees of the Department of Transportation, who refer to the agency as “captive” and entirely beholden to the interests of trucking interests. The conversations veer toward the emotional when he interviews surviving spouses and parents of fatal accident victims. But given the circumstances, that’s pretty hard to avoid.
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