Highway regulators calling for better truck safety

January 28th, 2015 by Julie Ferguson

ntsb
Since 2009, fatalities related to large truck road accidents have increased by 17%. In 2013, that number rose to 3,964 fatalities, the fourth straight year of increases. This bucks the trend of vehicle-related fatalities overall, which have been steadily decreasing. Fatalities involving large trucks and buses represent about 4% of the overall annual vehicle-related fatality total.

The increase in fatalities has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to call for tighter commercial trucking regulations.

Despite the annual uptick, NTSB says that more than 100 recommendations for improved truck safety have not come to fruition. And worse, instead of strengthening measures, it would appear that legislators rolled back safety-related regulations:

“Congress last year weakened regulations designed to reduce trucker fatigue. Lawmakers targeted a portion of a rule closing a loophole that kept some drivers from working 82 hours over eight days, according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. That provision won’t be enforced for at least a year as regulators conduct research to see if it had an unintended effect of forcing more trucks onto the road during rush hours. “

NTSB has included the need for a strengthening in commercial trucking on it 2015 Most Wanted List. Among some of the recommendations, NTSB says:

“Regulators have taken initial steps by maintaining science-based hours of service rules and are in the process of rulemaking mandating electronic logging devices that can help assure that drivers are adequately rested. Other important rulemaking initiatives include requirements to screen drivers for obstructive sleep apnea, other potentially impairing medical conditions, and potentially impairing drugs.”

Truck driver safety
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) truck drivers are six times more likely to be killed on the job than other workers. The trucking Industry is among the top 5 most catastrophic occupations. According to a 1992 article in the Journal of Public Health Policy:

“In the 1992 study, over one thousand long haul tractor-trailer drivers were interviewed by a research team over four months, and almost three-quarters of the respondents said they self-reported violations of Hours-of-Service rules. Two-thirds said they “routinely” drive more than legal weekly maximums. Those long hours in the driver’s seat lead to decreased attentiveness and heightened rates of fatigue, creating prime conditions for unwanted accidents and catastrophic injuries.”

One excellent resource for trucker safety is TIRES (Trucking Injury Reduction Emphasis), a research project developed by the SHARP program at the Washington Department of Labor & Industries. SHARP’s research shows that trucking has some of the highest claims rates and costs in the State of Washington.

In addition to a wide range of training and safety information, TIRES an excellent Keep Trucking Safe Blog that we’ll be adding to the sidebar.

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