Study Contradicts Safety Initiative
There are currently two competing stability control systems available for large trucks: Roll Stability Control (RSC) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC). Both systems are gaining acceptance and it’s expected that RSC will be installed in 16% of the tractors built this year while ESC will be installed in over 25%. The two systems have design differences but also have some functional overlap. The RSC systems are designed to activate when the truck is on the verge of experiencing a rollover. ESC systems also activate to prevent rollovers but also react to prevent loss of control accidents such as jackknifes.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed that the ESC system become mandatory equipment on new tractors and this action would, of course, remove the competing system from the marketplace. As expected the makers of the ESC system are applauding NHTSA’s decision while others are defending the validity and effectiveness of the RSC system. Within the last few weeks the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released a study of the effectiveness of the two systems and found that the RSC system had the following benefits:
- A lower crash rate: 4.22 per 100 million miles vs. 5.60 per 100 million miles for ESC
- Installed cost average of $467.18 per unit vs. $1,180.88 for ESC
- Average cost of rollover crashes was $3.77 per 1,000 miles vs. $4.81 per 1,000 miles for ESC
To arrive at their conclusions, ATRI studied three years of data supplied by 14 motor carriers that involved over 135,000 trucks. The study encompassed trucks equipped with either system as well as trucks without any stability control system. Overall ATRI found that the RSC system was more cost effective. Prior to releasing its rulemaking, NHTSA came up with the same findings. However, they decided to mandate the ESC system because it “generated a larger net societal benefit due to a greater number of prevented fatalities and injuries.”
The comment period for the proposed rule will end this month and it’s certain that a great deal of statistical information, including this study, will be presented to NHTSA. It will be interesting to see how they evaluate this information in light of the fact that they’ll be deciding which technology becomes the winner and which one goes out of production.
Rollover incidents are rare, accounting for only 2.8% of all large truck crashes, but they are the cause of more than half of all truck driver fatalities.
Transportation Reauthorization Bill
Congress finally passed, and President Obama signed, the Transportation Reauthorization Bill. However, as usual, the bill is about more than just allocating funding for transportation projects. Included in the bill are the following two items:
Increased Hazardous Materials Penalties
- Up to $75,000 per day per violation (formerly $50,000)
- In the event of death, severe injury, serious illness or substantial property damage up to $175,000 per day per violation (formerly $100,000)
“PHMSA wanted the flexibility to deal with those relatively few cases where we considered that the circumstances, and sometimes actual consequences of a violation justified a penalty greater than the statutory maximum,” said Gordon Delcambre Jr. “When we find that hazmat safety regulations are not being followed, we now have increased civil penalty authority for those carriers/shippers that violate and/or obstruct the law.”
In 2011 hazardous material shippers and motor carriers were assessed civil penalties totaling $2.1 million in 388 cases. The highest single penalty was $50,000 assessed to Visionary Solutions LLC, Oak Ridge, Tenn., for a serious incident inspection.
Electronic On Board Recorders
The bill also mandates that the Federal Motor carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) draft a final rule for electronic logging devices by October, 2013. The rule would take effect in 2015. Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Association said that “…the vast majority of truck safety stakeholders support this requirement because of the potential compliance and safety benefits.”
A previous rule mandating recorders for serious Hours of Service violators was struck down by a federal appeals court when the rule was challenged by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association. Their contention was that the recorders could be used to harass drivers into driving their full available hours even if they felt fatigued and the court agreed. FMCSA withdrew the rule and stopped working on a wider version that would have encompassed virtually all motor carriers.
Earlier this summer FMCSA awarded a grant to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to study all of the issues surrounding electronic logging devices. Researchers will try to determine “whether such devices improve compliance with hours-of-service regulations, how many operators and fleets use them, how much they cost to install and operate and whether there are other benefits of the devices,” the institute said in announcing the grant. The report should be available late this year and the information will be used to draft the proposed rule.
CVSA Roadcheck Results
Roadcheck 2012 took place June 5th through 7th, with an average of more than 1,000 trucks or buses inspected every hour during the 72-hour campaign. The United States, Canada and Mexico participated with 74,072 truck and bus inspections occurring at 2,500 fixed or temporary locations.
This year’s event emphasized a back-to-the-basics focus, with special attention paid toward braking systems and hours-of-service, the top ranking violation categories. Even with these focus areas, the proportions of brake and hours-of-service related violations relative to all out-of-service violations declined slightly. In addition, seatbelt violations issued totaled 848, the fewest recorded since 2007.
The North American Standard Level 1 inspections (48,815), the most comprehensive roadside inspection, placed 22.4 percent of vehicles and 3.9 percent of drivers out of service (OOS). These vehicle and driver OOS rates for Level 1 inspections represent the second lowest achieved in 25 years, continuing its successful historic trend downward. For comparison, in 1991 (the first year comprehensive data were available,) the Level 1 OOS rates were 34.8 percent for vehicles and 5.6 percent for drivers.
The overall OOS rates for the entire event in 2012 (includes all inspection levels) were 20.9 percent for vehicles and 4.6 percent for drivers, both of which were higher than last year’s numbers. Despite the positive trend on the Level 1’s, this highlights that one in five vehicles selected for inspection was found with a violation serious enough to be considered an imminent safety hazard. These mixed results indicate that, while the attention paid by industry to maintenance and regulatory compliance generally is improving, more needs to be done by industry and enforcement alike.
“Once again Roadcheck effectively identifies and removes from the road truck and bus companies that cut corners at the expense of safety,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “FMCSA embraces Roadcheck 100 percent and for good reason – it enforces high safety standards and improves roadway safety for everyone.”
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