truck crash fatalities

NHTSA denies crash victim families’ request for truck rear-guard probe

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have declined a request by parents of children killed in truck crashes to open an investigation into defective truck equipment designed to prevent fatalities in collisions with automobiles.

In denying petition filed in 2022 by Jerry and Marianne Karth, Eric Hein, and Lois Durso-Hawkins, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ruled that the issues raised “are best addressed through its recent rulemaking and the ongoing actions” undertaken by NHTSA as...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nhtsa-denies-crash-victim-families-request-for-truck-rear-guard-probe

FMCSA wants to know: Are truckers using their seat belts?

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators plan to survey truck drivers on their seat belt habits after recent fatality data revealed a high number of unrestrained drivers involved in fatal accidents.

In a notice published Wednesday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it intends to use “quantitative data collection techniques” in an anonymous, self-administered online survey to understand truckers’ behaviors regarding seat belt use and road safety.

“Existing data on the usage of safety...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-wants-to-know-are-truckers-using-their-seat-belts

Trucks and teen motorists a dangerous mix, NTSB panelists say

Rising costs related to inexperienced drivers and distracted driving are behind a new effort to educate the public — particularly teen drivers — about sharing the road with truckers.

“Car drivers — light vehicles — cause about 75% of the crashes between themselves and large vehicles,” said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member Bruce Landsberg, speaking Wednesday on an NTSB-sponsored webinar, Sharing the Roads with Commercial Vehicles.

The costs of these crashes to crash-victim...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucks-and-teen-motorists-a-dangerous-mix-ntsb-panelists-say

FMCSA’s hours-of-service exemption implicated in fatal truck crash

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board came down hard on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration after the board found that a fatigued driver of a milk-hauling tank truck was abusing the hours-of-service agriculture exemption — with little oversight of the exemption from FMCSA — when he was involved in a fatal crash.

The NTSB met on Tuesday to discuss the findings and staff recommendations of an investigation into the multivehicle crash on June 9, 2021, that killed four...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsas-hours-of-service-exemption-implicated-in-fatal-crash

FMCSA head commits to boosting oversight of trucking

The nation’s top trucking regulator told lawmakers she is committed to taking concrete steps to reduce deaths and injuries from large-truck crashes.

At her nomination hearing on Wednesday to be the seventh administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Meera Joshi, currently leading the agency as deputy administrator, was questioned by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., about what he considers a lack of oversight by FMCSA in addressing such crashes.

“I think it’s clear that this...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-head-commits-to-boosting-oversight-of-trucking

How does Congress want to make trucking safe in 2022?

Lawmakers responsible for funding agencies within the executive branch publish documents – called congressional reports – that accompany the funding legislation to give agencies a sense of where some in Congress stand on issues that do not make it into the bill.

In the case of the fiscal year 2022 budget for the Department of Transportation, the House Appropriations Committee recently provided its list of recommendations that it wants DOT to tackle next year. While DOT and its modal agencies are...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-does-congress-want-to-make-trucking-safe-in-2022

Watchdog knocks FMCSA on CDL compliance oversight

Gaps in how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration oversees state CDL programs threaten the agency’s ability to prevent large truck crashes, a federal watchdog agency warns.

A performance audit conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) between November 2019 and May 2021 revealed that a portion of state CDL agencies were not properly transmitting electronic notifications of truck driver convictions, the oversight of which is part of FMCSA’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/watchdog-knocks-fmcsa-on-cdl-compliance-oversight

Questioning new federal crash data requirements

A group representing makers self-driving cars and trucks wants the Biden administration to reconsider its recent order mandating that manufacturers and operators of automated vehicles promptly report data involving certain crashes that occur while the automation technology is engaged.

The Self-Driving Coalition, whose members include truck technology companies Embark, TuSimple and Waymo — all of which are included in the order issued on June 29 by the National Highway Traffic Safety...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/questioning-new-federal-crash-data-requirements

Trucking, labor haggle over driver work rules

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Teamsters union agree that truck driver fatigue is an issue, but the two organizations disagree on how to solve the problem.

Testifying on Tuesday at a Senate Commerce committee hearing on freight transportation issues, Lamont Byrd, director of the union’s safety and health department, told lawmakers that a big part of the problem are the changes made to the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations last year, which he says is resulting in drivers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-labor-haggle-over-driver-work-rules

Biden’s plan to energize last-mile road safety

When President Joe Biden unveiled his $1.3 trillion, 10-year infrastructure plan during the 2020 presidential campaign, he emphasized technologies that could be used by state and local governments to reduce accidents, such as vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and connected intersections. He also vowed to work with Congress to increase federal funding for safety initiatives like the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP).

Now that Pete Buttigieg has been confirmed as secretary of the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/bidens-plan-to-energize-last-mile-road-safety

+ More