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Today, we're going to start off the new year with some new evidence -- as if you really needed any more -- that right-wing policies cause increased human misery, suffering, pain and death. This example concerns thousands of unnecessary highway… More…

Today, we're going to start off the new year with some new evidence -- as if you really needed any more -- that right-wing policies cause increased human misery, suffering, pain and death. This example concerns thousands of unnecessary highway deaths from accidents involving large trucks.

Safety advocacy groups, along with the insurance industry, presented studies showing that tired truck drivers caused a high percentage of accidents.

But trucking company associations countered with their own statistics that supposedly proved it was passenger cars that caused more than 80 percent of the accidents, fatigued truckers being responsible for only 2 percent.

The federal agency, filled with right-wing Bush appointees, adopted the trucking industry position.

In April 2003, as modified in 2005, the agency increased the maximum continuous driving time from 10 to 11 hours. This is even though the better research shows that

After 8 hours of consecutive driving, crashes increase dramatically, and even more steeply in the 10th and 11th hours of consecutive driving.Are they crazy?

The continuous driving rules hadn't been changed since the 1930's. Just think of it: what kind of safety rules haven't been toughened since the 1930's? But the Bush administration not only doesn't toughen them, it loosens them!

For more details, and to hear a debunking of the ludicrous justifications offered by the right, listen to the entire podcast!