Transportation Safety in the News

The first three weeks of June have had more than their share of big news items related to transportation. Most interesting (and personally most encouraging) is the announcement of the American Trucking Association's 18 Point Safety Agenda. The agenda includes recommendations for improvements in Driver, Vehicle, and Motor Carrier performance.

If your opinion of the American trucking industry is still being influenced by Smokey and the Bandit (no disrespect to the movie!), take a minute to read the ATA's recommendations. They include mandatory speed limiters ("governors") set at 65mph and primary seat belt enforcement laws.

However, not everyone is behind the recommendations. The Owner Operator and Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) opposes the speed limiter provision. The link above (to TheTruckerDOTcom) includes OOIDA's statements, too.

Other important news already this month has included the release of NHTSA's Fatalites and Injuries in Motor Vehicle Backing Crashes, a comprehensive study of what causes and contributes to backing crashes on US highways and private parking lots. One of NHTSA's significant findings was confirmation that children under 5 years of age and adults over 70 years of age have an elevated risk of being injured in backing collisions.

Perhaps the most significant news came in the form of a 90-page white paper from the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, James Oberstar (D-MN). The paper is a blueprint for the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, and it explicitly recommends making EOBR technology mandatory for the entire trucking industry. More information about the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 is available from the US House of Representatives' website.