We frequently write about the critical importance of commercial truck safety. Large commercial trucks traveling at significant speeds have the potential to harm virtually any vehicle, cyclist, pedestrian or property in their path. As a result, it is vitally important that truck drivers are adequately trained and that they are properly reprimanded if they stray from mandatory safety procedures and practices.
Despite numerous educational campaigns, new federal regulations and a host of efforts by non-profits, legislators and the trucking industry itself, the rate of fatal and injurious truck accidents which occur annually continue to rise. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the number of fatalities that have occurred as a result of truck accidents has risen for the last four consecutive years.
In response to these frustrating and frightening statistics, the NTSB is urging both federal and state legislators to make truck safety a high priority during this legislative session and into the future. Most pressingly, the NTSB is urging federal highway regulators to act on the more than 100 truck safety recommendations already submitted to them by the NTSB.
Although federal highway regulators have made some significant efforts to address truck safety in recent years, they have not made nearly the progress that is needed in order to achieve greater safety on the nation’s roads. Given that trucking is a vital industry and that large trucks crowd the lanes of all of the nation’s major highways, urgent action is reasonably called for. Please check back as we will continue our discussion of this issue in our next blog post.
Source: Insurance Journal, “It’s Time to Act on Trucking Safety Ideas, Says NTSB,” Alan Levin, Jan. 14, 2015
