Location of Worst Drivers, New Safety Regulation, Roadcheck Results

Allstate Insurance has released its annual Best Drivers Report. Once again Washington D.C., where drivers average only 4.8 years between accidents, ranks as the worst. Here’s how some of the major metropolitan areas performed and their average number of years between accidents:

• Los Angeles — 6.7 years
• New York City — 7.3 years
• Dallas — 7.4 years
• Atlanta — 7.7 years
• Seattle — 7.8 years
• Chicago — 8.0 years

Several cities showed a large improvement: Brownsville, TX, Visalia, CA, and Montgomery, AL, all wound up in the top 10. The top three safest cities are: Fort Collins, CO (13.9 years), Boise, ID (13.9 years), and Souix Falls, SD (12.8 years). The ten worst cities and the average time between accidents:

• Washington D.C. — 4.8 years
• Baltimore, MD — 5.4 years
• Providence, RI — 5.4 years
• Hialeah, FL — 5.6 years
• Glendale, CA — 5.7 years
• Philadelphia, PA — 6.0 years
• Alexandria, VA — 6.2 years
• Miami, FL — 6.3 years
• San Francisco, CA — 6.5 years
• Arlington, VA — 6.7 years

A complete listing is available at the Allstate Web Site

A study analyzing the feasibility of assigning fault to crash reports has been completed. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is now reviewing the results. One of the criticisms of the Crash BASIC in CSA has been that there is no indication of fault. Although the score is not public, the list of crashes is. The motor carrier industry has argued strongly to add this type of information because anyone researching a motor carrier’s record in anticipation of using them doesn’t have the full set of facts. On the other hand, FMCSA has long argued that any accident involvement is a predictor of future probability.

Hopefully FMCSA will decide that police accident reports are reliable enough to make a clear determination of fault. That system has been in use in Canada for some time and works well. Modifying the CSA information in this manner will give everyone a more accurate depiction of a motor carrier’s safety record. FMCSA has not set a time frame to move ahead on this matter.

The results are available for this year’s annual Roadcheck event. During the three day event 10,000 inspectors performed over 70,000 inspections including 47,771 Level I inspections.

The results for drivers were:

• Overall — 4.2% placed out of service (4.6% last year)
• Level I inspections — 4.3% placed out of service (4.6% last year)
• Haz Mat — 2.4% placed out of service (2.3% last year)

The statistics for vehicles are:

• Overall — 20.6% placed out of service (20.9% last year)
• Level I inspections — 24.1% placed out of service (22.4% last year)
• Haz Mat — 16.5% placed out of service (15.6% last year)

Nearly half of the vehicle out–of–service violations were related to the brake system or brake adjustment. Lights and tires accounted for another 22% of the out–of–service violations.

For a complete breakdown, visit the CVSA website

Shortly after a bill was introduced in the the House of Representatives requiring that FMCSA publish a sleep disorder regulation the agency
announced that they will move forward with the regulation. This would replace the guidance previously issued by the agency. Even though
FMCSA has announced that it will take action it’s still likely that the bill will advance through both houses of congress and become a mandate.

The motor carrier industry has not been satisfied with the guidance since it’s just that, a set of guidelines that could easily be interpreted
differently by various medical examiners. This could lead to potential legal problems in the event of a post-crash lawsuit. The regulatory process
would eliminate this problem and it would also include a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.

This will be a slow process which could easily take a year or more before we even see a proposed rulemaking. A final rule is several years in the
future.

FMCSA published a Final Rule effective October 25, 2013, that addresses grade crossing safety. The intent of the rule is to prevent highway–rail grade crossing crashes and it applies to all commercial motor vehicles, empty or loaded regardless of type of cargo. Drivers are prohibited from entering the crossing unless there’s sufficient space on the other side to completely pass over the crossing without stopping.

Some of the causes of inadequate space on the other side of a crossing are stopped traffic or a traffic light. In those cases the driver can proceed once traffic has cleared or the traffic light has turned green. On the other hand, a stop sign placed less than one truck length from the crossing is more problematic. That situation effectively prohibits trucks from crossing the tracks since a stop is required.

FMCSA pointed out in the preamble to the rule that it cannot require states to mark the affected crossings and they are asking shippers, receivers and motor carriers to share information regarding these types of crossings with drivers travelling to and from their facilities. FMCSA also suggest that states share information about these problematic crossings with GPS device manufacturers.