How Can the Department of Transportation Prevent Fatal Truck Accidents?

U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show there were 3,424 fatal truck accidents in 2014. Causes of these accidents included commercial drivers who were speeding, using drugs or alcohol or falling asleep at the wheel. Additional accidents were caused by drivers travelling behind semi-trucks who were unable to see upcoming traffic or obstacles.Federal regulators and commercial carriers have considered several solutions to prevent truck accidents. Solutions include requiring speed-limiting devices, ELDs, automatic emergency brakes or early warning systems on commercial trucks.

Can These Solutions Prevent Fatal Truck Accidents?

• ELDs and hours of service: Federal regulators will soon require electronic logging devices (ELDs) on commercial trucks. These devices electronically log how many hours truckers are driving. Presently, many truckers still record their driving hours (hours of service compliance) on paper logs. Proponents of ELDs claim paper logs can be falsified. ELDs record information directly from the truck, making falsification impossible. The FMCSA believes ELDs will save lives, but it has experienced pushback from the commercial trucking industry.

• Speed-limiting devices: The FMCSA and NHTSA recently proposed speed-limiting devices on commercial vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. If this proposal became a rule, it could limit truck speeds to 60, 65 or 68 miles per hour. Speed-limiting devices could reduce the damage caused by truck accidents. Trucks travelling at faster speeds will have greater impact force when they collide with other vehicles. Opponents of this measure claim speed-limiting devices would cause road rage and speed differentials between large trucks and other traffic.

• Automatic emergency braking: NHTSA has considered a rule that would require all trucks to be outfitted with automatic emergency brakes (AEBs). According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, AEB’s would decrease fatal truck accidents by 44 to 47 percent. This technology could potentially save hundreds of lives every year.

• Early warning systems: Due to the nature of their job, truck drivers can become inattentive after driving for long periods of time. Early warning systems use onboard sensors to alert drivers when a collision is imminent. They also warn drivers who are in danger of veering off the road. The best early warning systems would utilize automatic brakes in case the drivers failed to respond.

How Would You Prevent Fatal Tuck Accidents?

There are other solutions that may prevent truck accidents not mentioned on our blog post today. One example is requiring sleep apnea screening for commercial drivers with certain BMIs or preexisting health conditions.Let’s pretend for a moment that you are the Administrator of the FMCSA, and tasked with developing solutions to prevent thousands of deaths and injuries caused by truck crashes each year. Which of these solutions would you pursue to prevent these deaths and injuries? Would you create your own solution?Let us know what you think by connecting with the Texas truck accident attorneys at Mike Love & Associates, LLC on Facebook and Twitter.