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March 17, 2007
BUSH DOT BUDGET RAPPED FOR SAFETY INADEQUACY
A leading consumer group, Public Citizen, has told Congress that the Bush Administration’s DOT budget submission is “inadequate, shortchanging consumers by cutting funding for vehicle safety and threatening fuel economy.”
The group said, “The fuel economy program continues to be grossly underfunded at about $1.2 trillion a year… the Bush administration proposals also cut back on safety. The DOT budget requests $1.2 million less in funding for the safety performance rulemaking budget, taking it from $14 million to just $12.8 million for 2008. These funds pay for a variety of programs, including the federal motor vehicle safety standard rulemakings, the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and fuel economy…
“The cuts in the safety budget would undermine safety standards and consumers' right to know about safety performance… It is not possible for NHTSA to effectively conduct this [NCAP] research on a diminished budget. Furthermore, the budget also covers motor vehicle safety standard rulemakings, including the requirement for NHTSA to issue important new and updated crashworthiness safety standards included in the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users, which cannot be completed in any effective way with this insufficient budget. Given that there were 10,800 rollover fatalities in 2005, rulemakings regarding occupant protection in rollover crashes are vitally important for improving highway safety. The new law commands these rulemakings, but this budget undercuts the intent of the law.”
Posted by MVHAP at March 17, 2007 02:18 PM