During the 2016 presidential election campaign, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to clear the path for American companies by slashing red tape and regulations. While this pledge has been warmly received by the country’s business communities, it has worried safety advocacy groups like Road Safe America. According to these groups, motorists in Connecticut and across the country would be more likely to be killed or injured in truck accidents if regulations published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in August 2016 are not implemented.

The proposed safety rules, which would limit the top speeds of newly-manufactured commercial trucks, cannot be implemented until the two agencies have reviewed more than 2,200 comments received from members of the public and trade groups. Safety organizations had hoped that this process would be completed before President Obama left office. Under the proposed regulations, new trucks would be prevented from exceeding 60, 65 or 68 mph.

While Trump has said that he would take a common sense approach when evaluating proposed regulations, safety groups are worried that he will be swayed by trade associations who oppose the measures. The American Trucking Association believes that the proposed rules would make accidents more likely as semi-tractor trailers would be prevented from traveling at the same speed as passenger vehicle traffic.

Excessive speed is a factor in many motor vehicle accidents, and death or catastrophic injury is likely when large and ponderous commercial vehicles are involved in high-speed crashes. Experienced personal injury attorneys may study accident reports for indications that speed may have played a role when seeking compensation for truck accident victims, and they would likely support any regulation that aims to protect road users from this type of crash.