CCJ | Commercial Carrier Journal : November 2008
NTSB calls for fatigue mitigation steps
40 Commercial Carrier Journal November 2008 safety I n response to a tractor-trailer roll-over that triggered a collision with a motor-coach, the National Transportation Safety Board called on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to take actions to counteract the effects of fatigued commer-cial drivers and to reduce the occurrence of fatigue in the first place. Specifically, NTSB recommended that: FMCSA develop and implement a plan to deploy technologies in commercial vehicles to reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents; FMCSA develop and use a methodology that will continually assess the effec-tiveness of the fatigue management plans implemented by motor carriers, including their ability to improve sleep and alertness, mitigate performance errors, and prevent incidents and accidents; and NHTSA determine whether equipping commercial vehicles with collision warning systems with active braking and electronic stability control systems will reduce commercial vehicle accidents and to require their use on commer-cial vehicles if they are found effective. NTSB also reiterated its previous recommendation that NHTSA complete a rulemaking on adaptive cruise control and collision warning system performance standards for new commercial vehicles. Those standards should address obstacle detection distance, timing of alerts, and human factors guidelines, such as the mode and type of warning, NTSB said. The crash that sparked NTSB's recommendations occurred just before 2 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2005. A tractor-trailer traveling westbound on Interstate 94 near Osseo, Wis., departed the right-hand lane and traveled along the earthen road-side before re-entering the highway where it overturned, coming to rest on its right side and blocking both westbound lanes. About a minute later, a chartered 55-passenger motorcoach, carrying members of a high school band and traveling at highway speeds, crashed into the underside of the overturned truck. The crash killed the motorcoach driver and four passengers, while 35 passengers and the truck driver received minor-to-serious injuries. NTSB calls for fatigue mitigation steps Action follows deadly tractor-trailer rollover Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is accepting comments until Dec. 1 on proposed rules to imple-ment certain authorities conferred by 2005 legislation. The proposal would establish procedures for (1) the inspection and opening of packages; (2) the temporary detention and inspection of suspicious packages; and (3) the issuance of emergency orders restrictions, prohibitions, recalls and out-of-service orders to address unsafe conditions or prac-tices posing an imminent hazard. For more information, go to www.regulations.gov and search Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0142. U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration proposed more than $40 million in grants to help states and territories implement tech-nologies to deliver wireless 9-1-1 calls with automatic location information. To see the proposed grant regulations, go to www.regulations.gov and search Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0142. than ever before, with 83 percent of vehicle occupants using seatbelts during daylight hours, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found in its annual survey. States with primary belt laws average about 13 percentage points higher for seat-belt use than states with secondary laws, NHTSA says. The latest survey is available at www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/ Pubs/811036.PDF. in brief The National Transportation Safety Board favors a combination of strategies to prevent and mitigate truck and bus accidents, such as lane departures and rollovers like this one, that often result from fatigue.