Should Smaller Commercial Trucks Be Subject to Safety Regulations?

Motor-carrier safety is a critical and challenging issue in the US motorcarrier industry. Despite the vast safety improvements in the industry, a continuing challenge is the economic costs associated with regulatory oversight of safety inspection programs. The purpose of this article is to compute the costs and associated benefits of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s driver and vehicle inspection program of commercial motor vehicles in the 10,001- to 26,000-lb category. Our analysis reveals that for every dollar spent in program costs, the benefits are $8.86.