The Dallas Morning News, "Big rigs, big risks on highways"

The truck had two bad brakes and a tired driver. It carried a load of cars. And it slammed into the back of an SUV carrying two young boys and their fathers. One of the dads was a firefighter, the other a state trooper whose job was to keep bad rigs off the road. Everybody died.

The truck should not have been on the road. If it had been inspected, the truck would have been sent straight to a mechanic. But only a fraction of the millions of trucks rolling down Texas highways are subjected to spot inspections on the road. When inspectors get a look at them, the failure rate is high. One out of three is taken out of service for serious problems with the equipment or the driver. And only 14 percent of trucks examined in 2002 were free of safety violations, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.