truck crash safety

Robin Hutcheson discusses priorities for FMCSA

FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson

Last month Robin Hutcheson was confirmed as the seventh administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but she has been leading the agency since January after acting administrator Meera Joshi left to become a deputy mayor of New York City.

It has been a busy year for Hutcheson since then. Barely a week after she took the wheel at FMCSA, the U.S. Department of Transportation rolled out its National Roadway Safety Strategy, an agency-wide initiative aimed at tackling road...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/robin-hutcheson-sets-priorities-at-fmcsa

Truck safety lobby pressures DOT on crash prevention

truck crash

Truck safety advocates are calling on the Biden administration to act faster to prevent deaths resulting from large truck crashes, following new data compiled from federal sources.

The one-page report, released by the Truck Safety Coalition, ranks the 12 states with the highest fatality rates and overall deaths, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

StateFatality rate*
Wyoming4.3
South Dakota3.1
Nebraska2.9
Arkansas2.9
Montana2.9
Alabama2.9
Idaho

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-safety-lobby-pressures-dot-on-crash-prevention-equipment

Safety groups urge NHTSA to reconsider underride guard rule

Back of truck on highway.

A coalition of safety groups want federal regulators to postpone a recent rule on truck-trailer performance standards until the new regulation can be significantly improved.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulation, scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 11, 2023, is “fatally flawed,” the safety groups assert, because it failed to consider crucial data on crashes in which passenger cars slide under the rear end of tractor-trailers due to insufficient protection on the back of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/safety-groups-urge-nhtsa-to-reconsider-underride-guard-rule

Truck crash deaths jump 13% to ‘crisis’ level

Truck on its side

Deaths in crashes involving trucks hit a “crisis” level and reversed a downward trend in place before the pandemic, according to federal regulators.

Based on preliminary data released Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, total estimated fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck (gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds) increased by 13% from 2020 to 2021, from 4,965 to 5,601. That compares with a roughly 1% decline between 2019 and 2021...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-crash-fatalities-jump-13-to-crisis-level

Breaking: Congress approves $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill

A historic, $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that folds in a reauthorization of the highway bill for the next five years — including a load of new provisions that affect trucking — is finally headed to President Joe Biden’s desk for signing.

After months of political gamesmanship between the progressive wing of the Democratic party in The House of Representatives and conservative Democrats in the Senate – both trying to use leverage to affect passage of the related budget reconciliation bill...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/congress-approves-12-trillion-infrastructure-bill

Federal money earmarked for truck safety in FY21 tops $380M

U.S. regulators announced on Wednesday $76. 2 million in grants aimed at preventing truck crashes, bringing safety funding allocated in FY21 to more than $380 million.

The most recent grants, awarded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to state agencies and educational facilities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, includes $45.2 million in competitive high-priority (HP) grants to advance technological capability and promote intelligent transportation...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/federal-money-earmarked-for-truck-safety-in-fy21-tops-380m

Overall injuries in large-truck crashes increase 5.3%

The estimated number of people injured in crashes involving large trucks — including truck occupants and nonoccupants — increased 5.3 percent to 159,000 in 2019, according to federal data released Friday.

Isolating the data for truck occupants alone, injuries jumped by 7,000 people, or 18%, to an estimated 46,000 people in 2019 over 2018, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported, including injuries for both single- and multiple-vehicle crashes.

Broken down further,...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/overall-injuries-in-large-truck-crashes-increase-53

OOIDA’s Spencer asks Biden for top post at FMCSA

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) President and CEO Todd Spencer is lobbying President-elect Joe Biden for the top slot at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Spencer has notified Biden’s transition team by letter that he is interested in serving as FMCSA’s next administrator.

“I know what it is like to make a living behind the wheel of a truck. I still hold a CDL,” Spencer stated in his Nov. 24 letter. 

“I have been involved with FMCSA, its predecessor...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/ooidas-spencer-asks-biden-for-top-post-at-fmcsa

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