Whereas the current proposal from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to cut back the minimal variety of coaching hours required by new truck drivers in Illinois from 160 hours to 80 hours was withdrawn, the truth that this variation was even proposed is deeply regarding.
Truck crash deaths have elevated 31 % all through the US from 2011 to 2020, the final accessible yr of knowledge from the U.S. Division of Transportation. In Illinois, truck crash fatalities went up at a fair quicker charge, 46 %, leading to 178 folks shedding their lives in 2020.
I hope our state elected officers as a substitute promote insurance policies just like the INSURANCE Act, launched by Illinois Democratic U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia, that may make trucking safer.
The INSURANCE Act would enhance the minimal insurance coverage requirement for interstate motor carriers from $750,000 per crash, set in 1980, to $5 million (which in 2020 {dollars} is barely lower than $750,000 in 1980 {dollars} after adjusting for medical price inflation). This lengthy overdue replace will not change my household’s horrific expertise, whereby my son Graham was left completely partially paralyzed after being struck by an impaired and fatigued truck driver employed by an organization that solely carried the $750,000 coverage.
My solely hope is that it’s going to shield different households from enduring the identical monetary hardship we went by way of as a result of medical prices that weren’t coated by this low coverage.
By elevating the monetary stakes for the insurance coverage corporations, we are able to increase the bar for security within the trucking business.
Kate Brown
Gurnee