NTSB Trucking Safety Recommendations in 2015

In a recent press conference, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a stern message that its 100 recommendations to improve highway safety must be implemented in 2015 to reduce the more than 4,000 fatal injuries each year in trucking accidents.
The NTSB stated that implementation of anti-collision technology, limits on driver hours, and strict control on trucking companies that have high accident rates must become a priority this year to improve highway safety.

The NTSB reports that the number of fatal truck accidents has increased each year since 2011. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there has been a 17% overall increase in fatal accidents involving trucks over the past six years. The NTSB suggests a plan to reduce trucking accidents including strict management of trucking companies. To support this recommendation, advocates point to the fact that 20% of all safety violations are uncovered during routine safety inspections.

Within the list of 100 recommendations from the NTSB is for trucking companies to use recent technology that is available that will warn drivers of an impending collision, or when another vehicle has changed lanes that could impact the driver’s operating decisions. Driver fatigue and drowsy driving is another priority on the recommendation list. Limits on how many consecutive hours a truck driver can work, and mandating health screenings that will identify sleep disorders, would keep more drivers alert and awake on the highway.

In June of 2014, actor and comedian Tracy Morgan was critically injured, and fellow passenger, James McNair, was killed when the driver of a Walmart Company truck drove into the back of their van. Investigators found that the driver of the Walmart truck hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. Another accident involving driver fatigue recently resulted in four members of a college softball team being fatally injured when a tractor trailer slammed into their vehicle.

Though the National Transportation Safety Board is a non-authoritarian agency, its investigations into pipeline and transportation accidents are well respected and its recommendations taken very seriously by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The NTSB is also recommending more focus on improving issues relating to rail tank-car safety, airline pilot conformity, distracted driving, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.