In response to Daphne Izer’s letter, “Keep Highways Safe” (July 7), there have been many great improvements in truck safety during the past decade. Sen. Susan Collins supports those improvements and is working to ensure our roads and highways become safer.

Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented new rules affecting truck drivers. By the agency head’s own admission, it did so before conducting the proper research. The result has been unanticipated consequences.

Some of those new rules are making our roads less safe by forcing more trucks onto the highways during congested, daytime hours when roads are crowded with cars and school buses, rather than during overnight hours when there is far less traffic. Safety statistics show that the incidence of accidents is four times higher during rush hour than during night time.

Sen. Collins proposed a common-sense fix. Her proposal, which passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a bipartisan 21-9 vote, temporarily suspends two problematic provisions while a comprehensive study is done to determine if those rules are warranted.

Unfortunately, opponents are misrepresenting the facts.

The truth is, as the former head of the FMCSA recently wrote, Collins’ proposal “makes the roads safer.” The National Fraternal Order of Police supports Sen. Collins’ effort because it says, without the study, “it is irresponsible and potentially unsafe to implement the new regulations.”

No one, including Sen. Collins, wants to see changes that would result in less safe roads and it is disingenuous for opponents to claim otherwise.

Kevin Kelley, Washington, D.C., communications director, Sen. Susan Collins

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