On October 28, 2008, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its annual list of Most Wanted Safety Improvements. The list is designed to raise public awareness about transportation safety issues for many modes of transportation, including airplanes, trains, oil pipelines, and commercial trucks. 

Relating to commercial trucking, the NTSB again advocates for the mandatory use of on-board electronic data recorders to assure compliance with hours of service regulations. Also, the NTSB seeks adoption of more stringent regulations to prevent medically unqualified drivers from operating commercial vehicles. In particular, the NTSB recommends:

• Establishing a comprehensive medical oversight program for interstate commercial drivers.
• Ensuring that medical examiners are qualified.
• Tracking all medical certificate applications
• Enhancing oversight and enforcement of invalid medical certificates, and
• Providing mechanisms for reporting medical conditions.

The NTSB notes that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s response to these issues has been “unacceptable.”

The NTSB is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation — railroad, highway, marine and pipeline — and issuing safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. It’s most recent list of Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements can be found here.

In July 2007, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released the results of The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS). The goal of the study was to pin point the cause of the estimated 141,000 fatal or injury accidents involving large trucks in the 33 months between April 2001 and December 2003. The LTCCS closely examined a sample of 963 crashes which resulted in 249 deaths and 1123 injuries. For each crash, up to 1000 data elements were collected, including the condition of the truck driver and other drivers involved in the crash, the behavior of the drivers during the crash, the condition of the vehicles, the condition of the road, and the weather.

Of the crashes in which a heavy truck was identified as the primary reason for the crash, 87% were attributed to a failure of the driver, 10% were attributed to a failure of the vehicle, and 3% were attributed to environmental conditions. The LTCCS also identified the factors most strongly associated with the risk of a truck crash, including cargo shift, driver illness, illegal maneuvers, following traffic too closely, and driver inattention. Hopefully, the results of the LTCCS will serve as a guide to law makers in the creation of appropriate safety regulations to protect the motoring public.

A summary of the LTCCS is available here. For complete information about the LTCCS, including the original data, the methodology, and the resulting report to Congress, visit the LTCCS website here.

Federal regulations limit the number of hours commercial truck drivers may stay on-duty. These rules have been modified over the years in an effort reach a balance between safety and efficiency. Currently, the rules impose daily and weekly limits on the number of hours commercial truck drivers are permitted to work.  Generally, drivers are permitted to work no more than 14 consecutive hours. Of that time, only 11 hours may be devoted to driving. (The remaining time may be devoted to paperwork, loading and unloading, etc.) After exhausting these limits, drivers are required to spend a minimum of 10 consecutive hours off duty. The regulations also prohibit driving after being on-duty more than 60 hours in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days. Drivers may restart the 60 or 70 hour clock by taking no less than 34 consecutive hours off duty.

A recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) study sheds light on whether these regulations, if properly followed and enforced, are likely to be effective. (See Analysis of Risk as a Function of Driving-Hour: Assessment of Driving Hours 1 through 11 Final Report. The shorter ‘Tech Brief‘ summary is here.) This study does not support the hypothesis that driving 10 or 11 hours is more unsafe than driving fewer hours. In fact, the study suggests that driver performance in hours 2 through 11 is about the same. Oddly, drivers performed worst during the first hour of driving.

Overall, the study concludes that “time on task” is a poor predictor of driver performance. More relevant, the study suggests, is time of day. The highest incidence of unsafe performance occurred during times of heavy traffic conditions.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) held its annual Roadcheck from June 3 through June 5, 2008. The CVSA is an association of state, provincial, and federal officials responsible for the administration and enforcement of motor carrier safety laws in the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 10,000 truck safety inspectors conducted non-stop truck inspections in 1500 locations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The results of past Roadchecks are sobering. In 2007, for example, the CVSA conducted more than 62,000 inspections. More than 21% of trucks inspected were placed out of service for mechanical problems, as were more than 6% of drivers. National statistics for 2008 are not yet available, but the Texas highway patrol reports a similarly significant number of safety violations again this year, with more than 24% of inspected vehicles taken out of service in Texas. These violations predominately involved brake systems, tire or wheel problems, and light malfunctions.

The results of Roadchecks from 2001 through 2006 is available at the CVSA website here.