In a statement, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta applauded the new regulations, noting that, "The new safety rule gives us the means to save hundreds of lives, protect billions in commerce and safeguard our roads and highways for years to come."

But whatever change may come from new trucking laws, it's not likely to have much impact on motor carrier insurance rates, at least in the short term, according to National Association of Independent Insurers. "You are talking about a small, incremental change in the actual exposure," said David Golden, director of commercial lines at Des Plaines, Ill.-based NAII.

Mr. Golden also observed that at the same time, motor carriers and insurers are experiencing large changes in exposure in terms of litigation. "You are looking at average judgments, average claims that have been increasing from year to year at several times the rate of inflation--the medical costs are going up at several times the rate of inflation," he commented. "All these factors are significant and ongoing, and whatever change that might come up from this new rule will be overshadowed by what's happening in the larger picture."

Furthermore, some even disagree with the U.S. transportation department's assessment that the new rules will improve highway safety. Russ Rader, spokesman for Arlington, Va.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told National Underwriter that research shows fatigue-related crashes "increase markedly after eight to 10 hours of driving.

"And these new rules raise the limit for driving at a stretch, from 10 to 11 hours. So we think that this is going to have a negative effect on highway safety," Mr. Rader said.

But the biggest problem remaining with regulations, Mr. Rader argued, is that they still don't require on-board computers to monitor the truck's movement, "so there is no guarantee that drivers are adhering to any of these rules." He observed that truckers have to keep their own driver log books to keep track of their schedules. "But truckers refer to those log books as comic books. Enforcement has always been a joke to truckers," he said.