As President Obama announces Charles Hurley as the head of the NHTSA, I urge everyone to encourage the administration to take a look at current vehicle roof crushing standards, particularly those of commercial motor vehicles. The current standards for cars are extremely outdated having last been updated in 1973 before SUV’s became extremely popular on the roads.  Despite acknowledging the need for CMV roof crush standards, the trucking industry has successfully prevented them from being implemented. There are no roof crush standards for CMV’s.

Roof crush standards are extremely important in accidents where a vehicle rolls over. It is estimated by the FMCSA that in excess of 12,000 lives of CMV drivers would be saved by having roof crush standards. The trucking industry fights having stronger roofs on CMV’s because of the slight additional weight. The weight, despite being slight, would use more fuel to move and cut into profits. Thus there are no CMV regulations on roof crush and the trucks cabs are built with tissue paper. This is a clear case of profits over people and why many consider trucks to simply be rolling sweat shops. 

Please see my earlier posts on this topic.