The regulatory agency said that in conducting an extensive review of the Indiana trucking firm’s operations, it uncovered multiple violations of federal transportation safety rules, “including a continuous pattern of using drivers without valid commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and using drivers that do not meet federal English proficiency requirements” for commercial drivers.

Using drivers who don’t possess the proper truck driving training and other qualifications, and who don’t understand English well enough to safely operate a commercial truck on U.S. highways is a disaster waiting to happen.

In addition to ordering U & D Service to shut down immediately, the FMCSA said it may also take enforcement action against the drivers, including civil penalties and driver disqualification, for driving commercial vehicles without a CDL.

According to the FMCSA, Indiana State Police inspected U & D Service’s commercial vehicles 26 times from November 3, 2011, through January 27, 2012. Those inspections resulted in U & D drivers being cited 12 times for not possessing a CDL; 10 times for exceeding vehicle weight limits; 8 times for exceeding tire weight limits; and 21 times for English-language proficiency violations. U & D employed 40 drivers and owned about as many trucks.

“Safety is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s highest priority,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “We are committed to aggressively removing from our roads unsafe truck companies that place the traveling public at risk.”

FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro said the agency “will continue to do everything within its current legal authority to remove unsafe truck companies like U & D Service from our roadways. The traveling public deserves no less.”
Reactions within the trucking industry mostly praised the FMCSA for shutting the company down.

“Maybe some trucking companies shouldn’t be in business — like the ones that don’t think drivers need CDLs, or that truck weight limits are just suggestions,” The Trucker news said on its Facebook page. “Can we give FMCSA some credit for going after carriers like this one?” The Trucker said.

Source:

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

The Trucker

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Indiana trucking firm shut down over numerous safety violations

An investigation conducted under OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program found that Salisbury-based Rowan Business Forms violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act’s whistleblower provision when it fired its driver for reporting a dangerous mechanical problem that affected his ability to brake properly.

In addition to reinstatement, OSHA also ordered Rowan Business Forms and its owners and officers to pay the former driver more than $83,000 in back wages, interest, and compensatory and punitive damages.

According to OSHA, on Aug. 18, 2009, the driver informed his supervisor that the company’s dump truck was leaking brake fluid. He indicated that whenever he stepped on the brake pedal, it went all the way down to the truck floor, and he reported nearly crashing into a car in front of him because of his impaired ability to brake. The driver expressed fear for his own safety and that of others on the road.

The company’s manager indicated that the leak would be repaired before the driver made another run, but the repair was not made. When the truck was ready for its next dump delivery, the employee refused to drive it because of the unrepaired leak. Rowan Business Forms terminated the driver the following day.

“We take complaints regarding retaliation for reporting truck safety very seriously,” said Cindy Coe, OSHA’s regional administrator in Atlanta. “Reporting concerns are a basic worker’s right, and OSHA will continue to ensure that it is protected. Employers found in violation of whistleblower protection provisions will be held accountable.”

Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise certain concerns or provide information to the employer or the government under a number of whistleblower provisions enacted by Congress. OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act and 20 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various laws pertaining to commercial motor vehicles and several other industries.

For more information about whistleblower protection laws, visit www.beasleyallen.com.

Source: The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NC company ordered to reinstate driver fired for reporting faulty brakes

According to the Gainesville Sun, a wildfire broke out in the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park Saturday afternoon, creating heavy smoke along I-75 south as the nearby fire smoldered. High atmospheric pressure caused an inversion layer to develop after sunset, generating fog and trapping it close to the road with the smoke. The combination of darkness, heavy fog, and thick smoke reduced visibility on the parts of the interstate to near zero.

FHP closed I-75 and U.S. 441 in the state preserve after dark for about three hours because of the poor conditions, but reopened them when the smoke began to clear. However, according to the Gainesville Sun, “Within 45 minutes, smoke and fog had again sunk into the prairie, and the collisions started.”

Eleven people died and 21 others were sent to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville with injuries.

Investigators are looking at the decision to re-open the highway in addition to probing possible causes of the brush fire, which the Florida Forest Service told the AP may have been intentionally set.

After the smoke and fog set over the interstate again, two commercial trucks traveling south apparently stopped in their lanes, despite state rules ordering trucks not to stop when driving through fog, unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Subsequently, two passenger vehicles collided with the stopped trucks before being struck by other vehicles. Three people in the two vehicles that struck the tractor trailers died while three others were injured.

The FHP reports do not say why the trucks had stopped on the interstate, but FHP Lt. Patrick Riordan told the Gainesville Sun “that part is under investigation.”

“I’m not going to take a stab in the dark about what they did or should have done,” Riordan told the Sun. “I’m sure there is an applicable statute that says you can’t stop in the road.”

The Gainesville Sun cites the Florida commercial driver’s license manual, which states that truck drivers entering fog must slow down and turn on the four-way flashers. It also cautions commercial drivers to listen for traffic when they can’t see it and to refrain from passing other vehicles.

Source:

The Gainesville Sun

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Investigators probing why two tractor trailers stopped on I-75 before pileup

Drivers who operate in certain types of commerce will be required by the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to submit a current medical examiner’s certificate to their SDLA, which in turn will get them a “certified” medical status on their driving record.

The new law comes amid heightened awareness of some of the serious health problems affecting commercial truck drivers and their ability to safely haul tons of cargo. Recent studies show that hypertension remains the leading health problem among commercial drivers, putting them at risk of heart attack, stroke, and other adverse events that could cause them to lose control of their vehicles.

Sleep apnea is also a main concern because the condition, which interrupts sleep patterns and causes drowsiness and fatigue, has been increasing steadily among commercial drivers during the last three years.

According to the FMCSA, CDL holders required to have a “certified” medical status who fail to provide and keep their medical examiner’s certificate current with their SDLA will be designated as “non-certified” and risk losing their CDL.

It’s important to note that physical qualification requirements for commercial drivers are not changing under the new rule; rather, the Medical Examiner’s Certificate is being linked to the CDL to ensure that only medically qualified drivers are operating commercial vehicles, and the burden of proof falls on the drivers, who must provide the required information to their SDLA.

State-by-state instructions for submitting medical certificates to state driver licensing agencies is available at www.aamva.org

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › New medical certification requirements go in effect for commercial drivers

The pileups occurred around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both of I-75’s southbound and northbound stretches. Authorities said that the 18 injured people were rushed to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, some with serious injuries. As of Monday, six patients remained in the trauma center while three others were admitted to other units.

According to the Associated Press, the dense fog and smoke prompted state officials to close the interstate for some time before the massive pileup. Investigators are looking at the decision to re-open the highway and probing possible causes of the brush fire, which the Florida Forest Service told the AP may have been intentionally set.

While the northbound section of I-75 has reopened, the southbound section remains closed to traffic. Parts of the interstate were heavily damaged, and wreckage was strewn for about a mile in both directions. The explosions and resulting fires melted parts of the highway and made investigations and cleanup more difficult.

The Florida Highway Patrol told the AP that while its standard procedure is to re-open the roads as quickly as possible, considering the tragic death toll, authorities planned to take as much time as needed to assess the situation.

The AP reports that first responders to the scene were so blinded by the fog and smoke that at first they could only listen to screams and moans coming from the wreckage. Some of the commercial trucks burst into flames, with cars crumpled into their sides or smashed underneath. According to the AP, “One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.”

About 62 acres of brush continue to burn in the area, which has been contained by firefighters. The AP reported that another brush fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dry, dense vegetation is so deep. The marsh fire that investigators believe contributed to the recent New Orleans pileup has been burning since summer.

Source:

The Associated Press

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Blinding fog and smoke eyed as a cause of deadly Florida pileup

“Trucking is a difficult job, and a big rig can be deadly when a driver is tired and overworked,” Mr. LaHood said in a statement. “Truck drivers deserve a work environment that allows them to perform their jobs safely.”

FMCSA’a new HOS rule:

• Reduces by 12 hours the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work within a week. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a seven-day period. The new rule limits a driver’s work week to 70 hours.

• Truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without first taking a break of at least 30 minutes. Drivers can take the 30-minute break whenever they need rest during the eight-hour window.

• The final rule retains the current 11-hour daily driving limit. FMCSA considered reducing the daily driving limit to 10 hours, but the proposed change was hotly contested by the trucking industry. The agency says it will continue to research the 11-hour driving allowance and analyze risks.

• Truck drivers who maximize their weekly work hours must take at least two nights’ rest when their 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most — from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. This rest requirement is part of the rule’s “34-hour restart” provision that allows drivers to restart the clock on their work week by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty. The final rule allows drivers to use the restart provision only once during a seven-day period.

Companies and drivers caught egregiously violating HOS rules face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by 3 or more hours could be fined $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense.

Prior to passing the final rule, FMCSA held six public hearings across the country and encouraged input from safety advocates, drivers, truck company owners, law enforcement, and the general public. The sessions were also aired on live webcasts for those who couldn’t attend in person.

“This final rule is the culmination of the most extensive and transparent public outreach effort in our agency’s history,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. “With robust input from all areas of the trucking community, coupled with the latest scientific research, we carefully crafted a rule acknowledging that when truckers are rested, alert and focused on safety, it makes our roadways safer.”

Source:

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › FMCSA’s final hours-of-service rule published

Double Happyness (sic) Travel Inc. of Huntingdon Valley, Penn., was found to be selling passenger tickets in violation of the agency’s December 23 order to “immediately cease all intrastate and interstate passenger service.” An extensive review of the company’s operations turned up multiple serious violations concerning hours-of-service, vehicle maintenance, driver qualification, records of duty, and drug and alcohol testing violations.

Ignoring the order, Double Happyness Travel resumed passenger ticket sales and travel operations, prompting the FMCSA to threaten additional enforcement action to keep its buses off the roads.

“Safety is our highest priority,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, vowing his agency would “remain vigilant in our efforts to protect bus passengers and all motorists from unsafe bus companies.”

Double Happyness Travel provided motorcoach service between New York City and Albany, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; and Wilmington, Delaware.

Federal and State regulators and law enforcement authorities have ramped up efforts to crack down on discount bus companies after a horrific bus crash in the Bronx killed 15 people and injured 18 on March 11 while en route to Chinatown from a Connecticut casino. In that incident, authorities discovered the bus operator, World Wide Tours of Brooklyn, New York, and the driver, 40-year-old Ophadell Williams, were in violation of numerous federal safety regulations.

Like World Wide Tours and a number of other discount bus companies, Double Happyness Travel (which sometimes goes under the correct spelling, Double Happiness Travel) ran buses out of Chinatown and catered primarily to immigrants and low-income travelers.

Before buying a ticket or hiring a bus company for group travel, the FMCSA encourages consumers to review the Transportation Department’s “Think Safety: Every Trip, Every Time” pre-trip safety checklist. The list helps consumers review a bus company’s safety record, safety rating, and operating authority. The checklist is available online at FMCSA’s Passenger Bus Safety Website: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/pcs/Index.aspx.

The FMCSA also asks consumers to report any unsafe bus company, vehicle, or driver to the agency through a toll free hotline 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238) or the FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database.

Sources:

U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

New York Post

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Rogue bus company continues service despite federal orders to stop

Mrs. Lindsay and her husband John had been enjoying retired life to the fullest – spending time with their children and grandchildren, planning trips, and traveling, when a sleep-apnea afflicted truck driver slammed into the back of their vehicle while it was stopped in a highway construction zone.

Evidence showed the driver of the Celadon truck, who died in the crash, had been previously diagnosed with sleep apnea, a condition characterized by punctuated, shallow breathing while sleeping. Sleep apnea sufferers experience lowered alertness, drowsiness, slower responses, fatigue, and other symptoms that can and often do prove deadly behind the wheel of a moving truck. The driver that collided with the Lindsay’s vehicle refused treatment for the condition.

Part of the settlement requires Celadon to educate its drivers about the dangers of sleep apnea in relation to driving tractor trailers. Under current laws, commercial truck drivers may be treated for the condition and retain their commercial driver’s license; however, there is a widespread perception amongst truckers that a sleep apnea diagnosis will lead to job termination.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is currently considering changes in the law that would place driving restrictions on sleep-apnea diagnosed truckers. In one recommendation made by the Medical Review Board and the Motor Carrier Safety Committee, drivers with a BMI (body mass index) of 35 or higher would have to undergo a sleep apnea evaluation. Another recommendation would immediately suspend commercial truckers who met certain criteria, such as having a sleep-related crash or other incident on record. A draft of the final rules is expected to be completed before the end of the first 2012 quarter.

Source:
Sleep Health Centers

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › First sleepy trucker case settled for $3 million, sleep-apnea rules to come

According to the California Highway Patrol, a gravel truck was traveling northbound in the fast lane when it struck the BMW from behind. The truck then smashed through the guardrails and careened into the creek below, where it burst into flames upon impact. The driver, Charles Allison Jr., was killed instantly.

The collision oriented the BMW toward the guardrails and drove it through, but the crumpled car became snagged on part of the bridge, leaving it dangling over a 100-foot drop.

Emergency responders included eight fire engines, two water tenders, a Santa Barbara County fire helicopter, a Calstar air ambulance, and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office. A Navy construction crew from Port Hueneme who were stuck in the ensuing traffic jam near the crash assisted the rescue effort by securing the BMW with a forklift they had been hauling.

Rescuers pulled a 10-year-old girl from the vehicle, then a 10-month old baby girl, and the girls’ mother, 36-year-old Kelli Lynne Groves, from the wreckage. All three were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries but were in stable condition.

Hazmat crews were dispatched to the wreckage below the dangling BMW to clean up about 60 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled into the creek from the truck’s external tanks. California Fish & Game officials were also on scene to assess the damage to wildlife near the crash scene and in the creek.

The crash also severely damaged the bridge, which was closed until inspectors could determine whether it was safe.

Authorities have not determined what caused the big rig to strike Mrs. Groves’ vehicle and plummet off the bridge, but the crash remains under investigation.

Photo by KTLA-TV

Source:

ABC News
Santa Maria Times

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Highway crash kills truck driver, leaves mother and daughters dangling from bridge

The latest victims of that crash to file a lawsuit against John Davis Trucking are two Korean nationals, a mother and son from Seoul, South Korea, who boarded the California-bound Zephyr train in Salt Lake City a few hours before the collision.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were “seriously and permanently injured” when the truck crashed into the side of the train, which was traveling nearly 80 miles per hour when the crash occurred about 70 miles east of Reno.

The truck’s driver, Lawrence Valli, 43, was leading a three-truck convoy hauling gravel on U.S. highway 95. The drivers of the other trucks told investigators that they saw the train approaching and the crossing gate flashing its warning lights, and wondered why Mr. Valli wasn’t stopping.

Mr. Valli slammed on his brakes just short of the crossing gate but it was too late to avoid a collision. His truck left a 320-foot skid mark on the road before crashing into the train. Mr. Valli died in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is expected to release its report within the next few months.

The South Korean plaintiffs allege the trucking company’s negligence caused the deadly crash. Both Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad, the owner of the tracks, have filed suits against John David Trucking.

Amtrak’s lawsuit asserts the trucking company “negligently hired Valli and diligently entrusted the vehicle to Valli, who it knew or should have known was incompetent and/or unqualified to operate the Peterbilt tractor trailer combination.”

An Associated Press report seemed to substantiate that claim, noting that John Davis Trucking hired Mr. Valli despite his lackluster driving record, which included three California speeding tickets and a 2007 arrest in Nevada for skipping a court date after letting his vehicle registration expire.

John Davis Trucking has countersued both rail companies, arguing the crossing where the crash occurred wasn’t safe.

Sources:

The Reno Gazette-Journal

Associated Press

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Korean nationals injured in Nevada Amtrak crash sue truck company

With 21 months remaining before the Sept. 30, 2013 deadline, just seven states (Alaska, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming) have finished developing and testing their computerized database and licensing system, while three others (Georgia, Minnesota and North Carolina) are nearing completion. States that fail to comply face by the final date face losing 5 percent of their federal highway funds, with higher penalties of 10 percent possible in subsequent years.

The health and fitness of commercial drivers has been a growing concern to traffic safety experts and regulatory authorities. Ordinarily, one’s medical data is an extremely private matter. However, when drivers must sit long hours behind the wheel of a truck weighing up to 40 tons, their health becomes a matter of public safety.

In 2007, for instance, FMCSA data showed more than 145,000 medical-certificate violations in 3.4 million roadside inspections. The agency also attributes about 3,000 truck crashes every year to heart attacks and other physical impairments.

A recently published report by risk-analysis firm LexisNexis found that sleep apnea (OSA) has increased steadily among commercial drivers over the last three years while cardiac concerns remained steady. The same report also found 41 percent of all DOT physical examinations, which are critical in determining a driver’s fitness, were limited in their certification or incurred a compliance related condition in 2011 – a three-percent increase over the previous year.

Some states, such as Missouri, are so far from implementing their own computer-based licensing programs that it’s unlikely they will meet the final deadline. Whether the federal government will sanction states that miss remains to be seen, but it will likely take adverse economic conditions into account before taking actions that could ultimately backfire or hurt the states even more.

Source:

Bloomberg News

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › States must track truckers’ health electronically or risk losing federal funds

“Companies using aggressive marketing tactics to sell ‘inspections’ and ‘authorized lists’ are not sanctioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration nor do they have access to the wide range of resources routinely implemented by trained and authorized inspectors to determine a passenger motor carrier’s safety fitness,” according to a statement released by the agency.

Bus companies are subject to a wide range of regulatory interventions, including compliance reviews, safety audits, and vehicle and driver inspections, which are conducted by appropriate state and federal authorities. The FMCSA is the only entity with the authority to authorize, regulate, and terminate an interstate bus company’s operations.

The announcement comes at a time of heightened concern for the safety of some passenger bus companies, especially “bargain” carriers that operate at steep discounts and cater to low-income workers.

In November, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report warning that low-cost bus operators that pick passengers up from street curbs are seven times more likely to become involved in a fatal crash than buses operated by traditional motor coach companies whose buses depart and arrive at a central terminal.

The report was mainly prompted by a horrific Bronx bus crash that killed 15 people and injured 18 in March 2011 after the driver, a former felon whose commercial license had been revoked, allegedly fell asleep at the wheel. Two days later, a bus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike killed two people, while another on I-93 in New Hampshire injured 23 passengers a few days later. The spate of bus crashes prompted state and federal authorities to conduct sweeping crackdowns of passenger buses, which led to the ticketing and arrests of dozens of bus drivers.

The FMCSA advises people or groups considering motorcoach transportation to the safety ratings of the mototcarriers they are interested in using at: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/pcs/Index.aspx

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › FMCSA warns bus companies, passengers of third-party safety certifications

“Non-compliance due to missing previous employment checks, annual review, driver’s license, MVR (Motor Vehicle Record search) and road tests (where required) all increased over 2010,” the LexisNexis report explains. “Of this list, three items directly impact each other: the MVR, annual review and certificate of violations. If the MVR is not in the file, it is unlikely the other two documents can be completed correctly.”

“Our findings continue to show the challenges transportation organizations, and those employing commercial drivers, face when monitoring their drivers and trying to meet compliance standards,” said Hayley Hitchcock, director, vertical strategy, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Due to the inherent hazards associated with driving, fleet owners and managers need to conduct adequate due diligence before placing any employee in a position that requires driving. Failure to do so could expose the company to substantial fines, damage to their reputation and brand, and potential litigation.”

LexisNexis also found that in 2011, 41 percent of all DOT physical examinations, which are critical in determining a driver’s fitness, were limited in their certification or incurred compliance related condition – a three-percent increase over the previous year.

Some of the report’s other findings:

• Hypertension still remains the leading cause of limited certification, although overall rate has dropped from 80.7 percent to 77.68 percent.

• Sleep apnea (OSA) has steadily increased amongst drivers over the past three years, while cardiac concerns remained steady at around 5 percent.

• Cocaine positive results are increasing. This could be attributed to a recovering economy and changes in drug testing parameters.

• Employment verification problems hit 38.3 percent

• Motor vehicle reports (MVRs) with adverse findings (which can indicate one or more violations, a revoked license or other issues) are consistently increasing year after year, from 48.2 percent in 2008 to 50.33 percent in 2011.

The full report can be viewed at: http://lexisnexis.com/risk/commercialdriver

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › New report underscores commercial trucking safety concerns

Commercial drivers found in violation of the rule will face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense. Multiple offenses will lead to disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle. Commercial drivers are also bound to local and state rules regarding cell phone use and could have their licenses suspend for multiple convictions of cell phone violations.

Commercial truck and bus companies that allow their drivers to use hand-held cell phones while driving will face a maximum penalty of $11,000. Approximately four million commercial drivers would be affected by this final rule.

“When drivers of large trucks, buses and hazardous materials take their eyes off the road for even a few seconds, the outcome can be deadly,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “I hope that this rule will save lives by helping commercial drivers stay laser-focused on safety at all times while behind the wheel.”

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said the final rule “represents a giant leap for safety.”

“It’s just too dangerous for drivers to use a hand-held cell phone while operating a commercial vehicle. Drivers must keep their eyes on the road, hands on the wheel and head in the game when operating on our roads. Lives are at stake,” she added.

FMCSA research shows that using a hand-held cell phone while driving requires a commercial driver to take several risky steps beyond what using a hands-free mobile phone requires, including the very basic actions of searching and reaching for the phone. According to federally funded studies, commercial drivers reaching for an object, such as a cell phone, are three times more likely to be involved in a crash or other safety-critical event. Dialing a hand-held cell phone makes it six times more likely that commercial drivers will be involved in a crash or other safety-critical event.

Previous measures enacted by the FMCSA to curb distracted driving crashes included a September 2010 regulation banning text messaging while operating a commercial truck or bus. In February 2011, the PHMSA followed with a companion regulation banning texting by intrastate hazardous materials drivers.

“Needless injuries and deaths happen when people are distracted behind the wheel,” said PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman. “Our final rule would improve safety and reduce risks of hazmat in transportation.”

Nearly 5474 people died and half a million were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2009. Distraction-related fatalities represented 16 percent of overall traffic fatalities in 2009, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research.

Many large truck and bus companies, such as UPS, Covenant Transport, Wal-Mart, Peter Pan, and Greyhound already have company policies in place banning their drivers from using hand-held phones, the Transportation Department said.

Source:

the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › National handheld cell phone ban for commercial drivers now in effect

Wood served as a former field office supervisor for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in Buffalo, N.Y. In January 2011, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged him with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribe money “in exchange for initiating complaint audits that could put a company out of business, or for giving favorable audits to other firms,” the Buffalo News reported.

From 2008 through 2011, Wood also accepted bribes from consultants working for Canadian trucking companies. In exchange, Wood postponed safety inspections and ensured those companies would receive satisfactory ratings, thereby allowing potentially dangerous trucks to travel U.S. highways and roads. Additionally, Wood provided consultants with internal agency information, including lists of other trucking companies scheduled to be audited.

“The agency involved in this case is dedicated to keeping the nation’s roadways safe. By accepting bribes, this defendant not only abused his position of public trust, he also potentially put those who use public highways at risk,” U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said in the statement.

The conviction is the result of an investigation by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Investigation Division. The Buffalo News reports that “emails between Wood and a cooperating witness were part of the evidence that led to his arrest.”

U.S. Attorney General

The Buffalo News

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › FMCSA safety inspector imprisoned for accepting trucking companies’ bribes

Two men died and 61 others were injured in the crash. Seven of the injured were listed in critical condition. The fatalities included two Louisiana men who were traveling in separate pickup trucks. A firefighter whose face was cut while responding to the crash was counted as a 62nd injury.

One commercial truck driver and crash survivor told the Times-Picayune that he was driving along I-10 when suddenly the smoke from a fire, combined with the early morning fog, made visibility “really dark and foggy to where you could not see if you put your hand in front of you.”

He slowed down and came upon a car in the middle lane, which he swerved around. As he was moving back to the center lane, a truck came from the right lane and crossed into the path of his truck. He hit the truck and then went off the road into a grassy area where he brought his truck to a stop. The man heard loud crash sounds all around him, which prompted him to “take a chance and run,” nearly getting hit by a car from behind.

Other drivers involved in the crash also reported being caught suddenly in thick smoke or fog. “I thought it was fog; my husband thought it was smoke,” a woman told WWL-TV. “Cars were driving in front of us and before you know it, it seemed as if they had dropped off the earth.”

The pileup occurred three-quarters of a mile before the exit 246 A&B and the I-510 interchange. Lanes in both directions were closed for much of the day Thursday, but reopened in time for rush hour.

Sources:

Times-Picayune

WWL-TV

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Pileup on I-10 New Orleans kills 2, injures 62

Wanda and her husband were stopped in construction-zone traffic on a Texas highway last year when a Celadon tractor trailer traveling 65 mph on cruise control smashed into the back of their vehicle. John died, but his wife lived on to become a crusader in the fight to raise awareness about the dangers obstructive sleep apnea pose to commercial drivers. The driver of the truck that collided with the Lindsays had been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and displayed all of the signs and symptoms of the disorder.

Mrs. Lindsay participated in the public comment section of a recent meeting between the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and the Medical Review Board to develop guidance on how commercial drivers should be handled in the event of sleep apnea diagnosis. Once finalized, the panel will present its recommendations to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which may use them to shape new safety polices and regulations.

Sleep apnea is a major concern for the FMCSA and the trucking industry. About one-third of all commercial truck drivers suffer from the condition, characterized by punctuated, shallow breathing while sleeping, and disrupted sleep. Sleep apnea patients experience lowered alertness, drowsiness, slower responses, and other symptoms that can and often do prove deadly behind the wheel of a moving truck.

In its meeting, the government advisory panel recommended sleep apnea screenings for obese commercial truck drivers whose body mass index (a measure of body fat proportional to height) ranked 35 or higher. Failing a sleep apnea screening test could lead to a commercial truck driver’s immediate disqualification if he or she has fallen asleep at the wheel or had a fatigue-related crash. Drivers with a clean record would get a 60-day conditional license during sleep apnea evaluation and treatment.

According to Dr. Charles Czeisler, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, a person with sleep apnea is 242 times more likely to crash while driving than a person without the disorder. Fatigued driving also kills more people on U.S. highways than distracted driving, he said.

Dr. Czeisler added that sleep apnea accounts for one in five tractor-trailer crashes, evn though the disorder gets a lot less attention than distracted driving and other fatal-crash factors. Commercial truck crashes killed about 4,000 people last year – up from 3,380 in 2009.

Photo by Phil Konstantin

Source:

Today’s Trucking

The Charlotte Observer

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Sleep apnea likely to impact federal regulations, commercial truck drivers

NTSB board members made the recommendation last week after meeting over a deadly multi-vehicle highway crash that occurred in Gray Summit, Missouri, on August 10, 2010. In that incident, the driver of a pickup truck had sent and received 11 text messages in the minutes before the crash. He received his last text moments before he slammed into the back of a tractor trailer that had slowed in an active construction zone. The pickup truck was then struck from behind by a school bus, which in turn was struck by another school bus. Two people were killed and 38 others were injured in the crash.

“According to NHTSA, more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents,” said Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.

“No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life.”

The NTSB’s earlier push for a ban on portable electronic devices for commercial drivers was largely prompted by the discovery that the truck driver, a 45-year-old man from Jasper, Alabama, attempted to make a phone call the second before his 38-ton truck collided with a van carrying 12 passengers to a wedding in Ohio. The truck driver and 10 of the van’s occupants were killed in the crash. Two children, who were secured in car seats in the back of the van, were the only survivors.

Although the NTSB doesn’t have the authority to create and impose new safety regulations, its recommendations carry much weight in federal and state regulatory agencies as well as private industries.

On Nov. 23, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a final rule prohibiting interstate truck and bus drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. That rule becomes effective Jan. 3. The NTSB supports a ban that would encompass all portable electronic devices, including hands-free devices, pointing to studies that found hands-free communication can be just as distracting and dangerous as handheld devices to support its proposal.

The NTSB has probed several crashes that have been linked to distracted driving, not just on the highway but in all major forms of transportation. Some other examples the NTSB cites for its endorsement of a comprehensive ban on PEDs include:

• In 2004, an experienced bus driver, distracted on his hands-free cell phone, failed to move to the center lane and struck the underside of an arched stone bridge on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia. Eleven of the 27 high school students on the bus were injured.

• In 2008, a commuter train collided with a freight train in Chatsworth, California, after the commuter train engineer, who had a history of using his cell phone for personal communications while on duty, ran a red signal while texting. Twenty-five people were killed and dozens more injured.

• In 2009, two airline pilots were out of radio communication with air traffic control for more than an hour because they were distracted by their personal laptops. They over-flew their destination by more than 100 miles, only realizing their error when a flight attendant inquired about preparing for arrival.

• In Philadelphia in 2010, a barge being towed by a tugboat ran over an amphibious “duck” boat in the Delaware River, killing two Hungarian tourists. The tugboat mate failed to maintain a proper lookout due to repeated use of a cell-phone and laptop computer.

Source:

National Transportation Safety Board

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Distracted-driving crashes prompt NTSB push for driver cell phone ban

However, the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC), comprised of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT), issued a press release Friday saying that commercial-truck crash deaths soared from 3,380 in 2009 to 4000 in 2010. The TSC cited the November 30 testimony of FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about the pending HOS rule changes. That hearing was the first time 2010 commercial truck crash statistics had been cited.

According to the TSC, “This critical data supports the position of safety groups, families of truck crash victims, and labor who have been urging the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Obama Administration to issue a safer truck driver HOS rule to reduce driver fatigue.”

TSC says that ATA pushes to keep the current HOS rules in place, using 2009’s record decline in commercial truck crashes as evidence that the current rules are working to prevent driver fatigue and crashes. But 2010’s statistics prove “that the claim is patently false,” the TSC said in a statement.

Nine other safety organizations joined the TSC in sending a letter to Mr. Sustein, countering the claims the ATA president made in his Nov. 15 letter. Citing the FMCSA’s 2010 numbers and a number of other studies, TSC said that the current HOS rules have “done nothing to reduce the relative occurrence of fatigue in truck crash involvement.” The ATA has its logic completely backwards, the letter stated.

Sources:

The Truck Safety Coalition press release

The Truck Safety Coalition’s letter to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › 2010 truck crash numbers prove HOS rules need improvement, safety groups say

Advocates of the weight increase want to see the limit increased on a national scale so that trucks weighing up to 50 tons can use the interstates, rather than being forced onto two-lane state highways with more liberal restrictions. Trucks that weigh more than 80,000 pounds are allowed to travel on federal highways in about 20 states now, creating a patchwork of inconsistent regulations stretching back to the creation of the federal interstate system in 1956 and an ongoing effort to balance federal mandates with state federalism.

Those in favor of the weight increase, including the trucking industry, argue that heavier loads mean fewer trucks, which translates to less emissions and environmental pollution, increased highway safety, reduced costs, and less driver stress.

Critics, however, say the interstates will become less safe because the heavier the truck, the more difficult it is to control and stop. Opponents also argue that heavier trucks will put excessive stress on the country’s highways and bridges, especially at a time when so much of the national infrastructure is aging and in need of repair. So, while trucking companies save money, the tax payer is stuck with a high repair bill.

According to the Associated Press, “A recent study in Illinois concluded that raising the truck weight limit from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds on federal highways would cause an additional $162 million in damages annually to federal highways there …”

Unlike most issues that pit business interests against safety and environmental concerns, the debate over whether to permit heavier trucks on U.S. highways is not a predictably partisan one. Maine Representative Michael Michaud, a Democrat, authored a bill called the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act that would allow six-axle trucks weighing 48.5 tons on U.S. interstates while allowing states to permit even heavier trucks.

According to the Associated Press, Rep. Michaud “said he was impressed by an Alabama business owner’s testimony in Congress a few years ago that allowing heavier trucks on the roads would save him $73,000 a week in fuel costs, reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 130,000 pounds a week and reduce the number of his trucks on the road from 600 to 450.”

Although the trucking industry advocates for upping the weight restrictions, the attitude amongst truckers is not all positive. On The Trucker’s Facebook page, a post about the subject drew mostly negative comments from truck drivers.

“Bigger loads means less loads and less drivers. That’s why trucking companies are interested,” said one commenter.

Source:

The Associated Press

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Should the federal government and states allow heavier truck loads?

According to the Baltimore Sun, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) deemed Gunthers Transport LLC of Hanover, Maryland, an “imminent hazard” to the public and ordered it off the road. The company, which owned 17 trucks and employed 23 drivers, had a long and troubled history of safety violations and failed inspections, including “at least seven serious crashes in the past year, one of which resulted in a fatality,” according to the Sun.

Additionally, Gunthers Transport and Gunthers Leasing Transport Inc., both owned by Mark David Gunther Sr., “have been involved in a string of legal problems and safety infractions, including falsifying driver logs to mask driver shifts that exceeded federal limits, a civil court judgment stemming from a 1994 crash on the Capitol Beltway that left one person dead, and bankruptcy,” the Sun explains.

Because of its shoddy safety record, FMCSA officials tried to bar Gunthers Transport from operating under a new name. However, Mark Gunther Sr.’s 25-year-old son Mark David Gunther Jr. filed incorporation papers for a new company named Clock Transport LLC, using the same address, before the federal order took effect. What used to be Gunthers Transport LLC is now pared-down operation of six trucks and 15 drivers that is still on the same reckless road it was before the name change.

About a month ago, a tractor trailer belonging to Clock stopped at a weigh station in Cambridge, Ohio. According to the Baltimore Sun, “After a 90-minute inspection, the truck was found to have an inoperative headlight, a defective brake light and worn tires, according to a report filed with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission. The trucker was cited for driving beyond the federal limit of 11 hours. Both truck and driver immediately were ordered off the road.”

The driver of that vehicle told the Baltimore Sun that he was confused by Hours of Service rules and that Clock Transport was not pushing him to drive beyond the legal limits. Interestingly, transportation analysts have found that commercial drivers with poor safety records are more apt to work for carriers with a history of safety violations and less liable to report or complain about being pushed to drive over the federal limits.

Captain Norman Dofflemyer, commander of the Maryland State Police Commercial Vehicle Division, told the Baltimore Sun that Clock Transport is driving legally, so they “aren’t even trying to hide it that they are what authorities call ‘chameleon truckers,’ companies that are shut down but reopen under another name.”

Luckily for motorists sharing the roads with these negligent carriers, there is no rule limiting the number of times law enforcement authorities can inspect commercial vehicles, especially when they’re known violators running under a new name.

“If we see their vehicles, they’re going to get inspected,” Capt. Dofflemyer told the Baltimore Sun. “If we see them a couple minutes later, they’re going to be inspected again.”

Source:

Federal regulators investigate newly formed trucking company

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Unsafe motor carriers can slide through loopholes, re-open under a new name

An investigative report by Cleveland, Ohio’s 5 On Your Side exposes the loopholes in FMCSA regulations that it says “allow truckers to remain behind the wheel despite excessive tickets and serious accidents.”

The report tells the tragic stories of two Ohio motorists whose lives were shattered just because their paths crossed with a couple of commercial drivers whose driving records were so poor, they would have been dangerous behind the wheel of bicycle, let alone a commercial truck weighing several tons.

According to ABC 5’s report, the driver who ran a red light and struck Diane Eslen in 2009, leaving her with serious injuries she is still recovering from, had received 15 speeding citations since 1990, had been cited for a crash in 1997, and had his commercial drivers license (CDL) revoked twice. One year after the crash, the same driver was again cited for running a red light and paid just a $109 fine. Still, that driver holds a valid CDL because federal law only stipulates commercial drivers be suspended for brief periods, after which his or her license is reinstated.

Another truck driver who swerved over the center line and collided with Graham Brown, 22, on an Ohio highway in 2005 had been released from prison where he was serving time for drug and weapons charges. That driver received his CDL just three months prior to the crash. Police investigating the crash discovered a crack pipe in the truck’s cab, and the driver was thrown in prison again on charges of aggravated driving while under the influence of drugs and possession of illegal drugs.

Ten months after serving a four-year sentence, the driver obtained a new CDL and was back behind the wheel of a commercial truck. Mr. Brown’s mother told ABC 5 that the entire left side of her son’s body had been crushed in the crash. Meanwhile, the driver who crashed into Mr. Brown has racked up two additional speeding tickets.

The FMCSA “establishes guidelines for CDL suspensions that are adopted nationwide,” ABC 5 explains. But “while those guidelines have lifetime suspensions for repeat alcohol or drug related violations, our … investigation found truckers can continue to drive despite years of speeding and wrecks.”

Source:

Exclusive 5 On Your Side investigation reveals truckers can keep driving despite tickets, wrecks

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Loopholes allow bad commercial drivers to stay behind the wheel

Dunaway Timber Co. of Fordsville, KY hired Morgan Quisenberry, 54, to drive tractor trailers even though he had crashed while hauling a truck load of hazardous materials just prior to his employment. Mr. Quisenbery also had his license revoked twice for driving while intoxicated, and should not have been in possession of a commercial driver’s license after the second infraction.

Mr. Quisenberry had been working for Dunaway Timber just 19 days when the company sent him on a roundtrip route from Kentucky to Indiana and then down to Arkansas, a trip that he couldn’t complete within the 11 hours mandated by federal hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers.

According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Mr. Quisenberry was at the end of the long haul when he lost control of his tractor trailer on September 3, 2008. His truck struck two cars in Yellville, Ark., before colliding with the cab of a truck driven by Roger Reagan, 42. Mr. Reagan was able to climb out of his cab after being trapped in the fiery wreckage for 20 minutes. He survived nearly an hour and a half before suffering a fatal heart attack on the way to the hospital.

Mr. Quisenberry reportedly had just four hours of sleep before beginning a haul that would have lasted 13 hours, 3 hours over the hours-of-service limit.

A lawyer involved in the case told the Democrat-Gazette that Dunaway Timber’s negligent hiring and management practices combined with Mr. Quisenberry’s poor driving record proved to be a fatal combination.

“It was a recipe for disaster when they put the keys in this man’s hands,” a lawyer involved in the case told the Democrat-Gazette, adding that it was “just a matter of time before he was going to seriously injure or kill somebody.”

Norita Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told the Democrat-Gazette that some motor carriers will break the law and hire unqualified drivers because they’re more apt to put up with violations, such as being pushed to drive beyond the HOS limit.

“It’s certainly fair to say some trucking companies want to have the ability to pay as little as possible and get as much work out of them as possible,” Taylor told the Democrat-Gazette.

Source:

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Arkansas jury finds trucking company liable for man’s death, issues verdict for $7 million

The federal government allows states to mandate whether a commercial driver’s license (CDL) is required for drivers of farm trucks in their respective states. Not surprisingly, Alabama and other primarily agricultural states have instituted lax laws for farm vehicles in an effort to shield farmers from the burdens of strict regulatory oversight, including exempting farm-truck drivers from carrying a CDL in many cases.

Additionally, Alabama and a few others states have gone so far as to release farm-truck drivers from many federal regulations, including hours-of-service requirements and certain weight restrictions. This essentially means that farmers are entrusted to drive safely and responsibly rather than be bound by commercial driving requirements.

Of course, these exemptions raise some valid traffic-safety concerns, which Purdue University’s Ag Answers addressed in a report about farm-truck safety. Bill Field, Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue, told Ag Answers that many farming truck accidents are the result of human error, with drugs, alcohol, and fatigue to blame for a significant number of farm-related crashes.

“It all starts with the driver,” Professor Fields told Ag Answers. “Even though there are certain situations where farms are exempt from requiring a commercial driver’s license, my suggestion is that farm owners require all their drivers be CDL-licensed. This helps screen drivers and also means that the owner always knows who is driving.”

Professor Fields also told Ag Answers that farm-truck drivers should be attuned to weight restrictions, which can vary by time and place. “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse” for farm trucks that are overweight, Professor Fields said.

Vehicle maintenance is equally important, and making sure trucks are in good working condition is a measure of protection for farmers, Professor Fields told Ag Answers. He recommended that farmers frequently check lights, and brakes.

“Usually, troopers don’t stop trucks because they look heavy; they will pull them over because they have lights covered with dirt or tires that look bald,” Professor Fields said. “Whenever you’re traveling, grain spills on the highway can cause other drivers to have an accident,” Field told Ag Answers. “All around, it’s important to be a good neighbor.”

Photo credit: By Infrogmation of New Orleans (Photo by Infrogmation (talk) of New Orleans) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

Purdue University Ag Answers

DOT Number Requirements for Farm Vehicles in Alabama

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Farm trucks often exempted from commercial regulations, but not from liability

Holly Averyt, 41, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, alleged in her lawsuit against the retail giant that a containment device designed to prevent the store’s deli grease from entering the sewer overflowed, creating a 185-foot slick in the parking lot and truck ramp area. Ms. Averyt’s lawsuit claimed Walmart allowed the oil slick to accumulate for seven days.

Since her fall in the Greeley, Colorado, parking lot, Ms. Averyt has undergone three spinal surgeries to correct injuries to her neck and back and has accumulated half a million dollars in medical bills. Ms. Averyt alleges her injures prevented her from returning to work and caused her to lose her truck.

A jury awarded Ms. Averyt $15 million in damages last November, but Walmart appealed the judgment, saying that Averyt’s lawyers failed to disclose relevant city documents. A lower court granted the company a new trial, calling the award “excessive” and a result of “the jury’s desire to punish Wal-Mart.”

The Colorado Supreme Court, however, overturned that ruling on Monday but reduced the award to $10 million, citing a state cap on non-economic damages. The Supreme Court said that Averyt’s lawyers were not required to disclose documents that are easily accessible in the public record.

According to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court “also said any prejudice the jury may have harbored toward the Bentonville, Ark., company was due to its initial refusal to produce evidence or admit the existence of the grease spill.”

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s opinion,” Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said. “We’re continuing to focus on operating a safe shopping and working environment in all our stores.”

Source:

The Associated Press

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck driver receives $10 million for injuries received in Walmart parking lot

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded a five-day investigation at the crash site on October 21. The probe included recreating various dynamics of the crash using a truck and pair of trailers provided by John Davis Trucking, the owner of the truck involved in the crash. Nevada’s Highway Patrol and Transportation Department provided additional support.

Commercial driver Lawrence Valli, 43, was leading a three-truck convoy hauling gravel on U.S. highway 95. The drivers of the other trucks have told investigators that they saw the train approaching and the crossing gate flashing its warning lights, and wondered why Mr. Valli failed to stop.

Mr. Valli slammed on his brakes just short of the crossing gate but not in time to avoid a collision. His truck left a 320-foot skid mark on the road before crashing into the double-decker Amtrak passenger train, which was traveling at 78 mph at the time. The crash killed Mr. Valli, an Amtrak conductor, and four passengers.

According to Reno’s KRNV, the train’s onboard data recorder – the equivalent of a “black box” on an airplane – and microphone attached to the exterior of the train revealed the locomotive’s horn sounded four times. Investigators timed their tests to coincide with the regular Amtrak train schedule to determine how audible the train’s horn would have been to the driver.

The probe also involved an evaluation of the truck’s performance, including the braking system and deceleration characteristics, and a recreation of the skid to determine the dynamics of speed, braking, and stopping distance.

The investigation remains ongoing. The NTSB will hold a board meeting sometime next year in which investigators will present their conclusions and announce a probable cause of the accident according to their findings.

Amtrak has filed a lawsuit against John Davis Trucking of Battle Mountain, Nevada, seeking at least $10 million in damages. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Reno Wednesday afternoon, alleges that John Davis Trucking is liable for damages because either it improperly trained or failed to train altogether the driver who slammed his truck into the train despite properly functioning warning gates and flashing lights at the crossing.

Sources:

NTSB Conducts Tests at Site of June 2011 Amtrak Crash

Amtrak sues trucking company overdeadly nevada crash

Amtrak crash investigation turns up trucking company’s flawed safety record

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NTSB investigators recreate parts of fatal Amtrak crash outside Reno

The report, prompted mainly by the Bronx bus crash that killed 15 people and injured 18 last March after the driver allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, says that bus travel generally remains safe, but that smaller discount carriers have higher accident rates and a higher rate of safety violations.

The report was ordered by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) shortly after the horrific Bronx crash.

Some key findings of the NTSB report include:

• While motor coach travel is generally safe, curbside carriers with 10 or fewer buses, and carriers that have been in business for 10 years or less have higher accident rates and higher roadside inspection violation rates.
• The fatal accident rate for curbside carriers from January 2005 to March 2011 was seven times that of conventional bus operations: 1.4 fatal accidents per 100 vehicles for curbside carriers compared with 0.2 fatal accidents per 100 vehicles for conventional scheduled carriers.
• The exclusion of buses from routine enroute inspections (especially of curbside carriers that don’t operate from terminals) reduces opportunities to discover safety violations.
• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is overburdened. For example, 878 FMCSA and state personnel are responsible for compliance reviews for more than 765,000 U.S. motor carriers, a ratio of 1.15 investigators per 1,000 motor carriers.
• Bus driver fatigue, a contributing factor in many accidents, is a continuing safety concern.
• There is a lack of transparency in ticket sales. More than conventional carriers, curbside operators use online bus brokers over whom the FMCSA has no regulatory authority.

Senator Schumer and Representative Velázquez echoed the NTSB’s findings.

“It’s abundantly clear that the oversight of this industry has not kept pace with its growth and the consequences have been deadly,” said Senator Schumer. “The NTSB report is a wake-up call that we need a more rigorous regulatory regime and it provides a blueprint for how to fill the gaps.”

“When travelers board a bus, they should feel safe, whether the trip starts in a terminal or at a Chinatown sidewalk,” said Congresswoman Velázquez. “The NTSB study has revealed important information about curbside motor coach travel and, in the coming weeks, we’ll need to continue working to improve the safety regulations that govern this growing industry.”

Sources:
Low-fare buses crash more often, NTSB study finds

NTSB study shows rapid growth of curbside carriers poses challenges for effective safety oversight

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Discount passenger buses can be a deadly choice, NTSB report warns

Authorities shut down both the northbound and southbound sections of U.S. 59 as fire crews worked to fight the blaze and clear the debris, including the charred remains of the tanker truck. The freeway was fully re-opened around 4 a.m.

Not all of the fuel burned. Various reports say that some of it spilled onto the road and into nearby drains. Hazmat crews worked to clean the spilled fuel from the road and out of the underground drainage system.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), nearly a million shipments of fuel and other hazardous materials are hauled by trucks on American highways and roads every day. Strict adherence to safety regulations governing the transportation of hazmat products is especially critical in the commercial trucking industry.

Each year, 200 hazmat trucks are involved in fatal crashes and 5,000 in non-fatal crashes each year. According to the FMCSA, “although these numbers are small relative to the totals of almost 5,000 trucks involved in fatal crashes and 400,000 involved in nonfatal crashes annually, the potential for human injury and property damage in hazmat crashes is much greater.”

Investigators don’t yet know what caused the loud popping sound the driver heard or how the truck caught fire.

Sources:

Tanker truck fire causes fuel spill, power outage in Sugar Land

Fuel tanker fire shuts down Hwy 59, knocks out power to area for hours

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

U.S. 59 feeder closed after Sugar Land tanker fire

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Fuel tanker explodes near Houston

Secretary LaHood told Senator Ayotte that “Americans expect safe travel each and every day,” especially when they are sharing the roads with large commercial vehicles weighing several tons. “Last year, nearly 4,000 people died in crashes involving large trucks and, by our estimates, approximately 500 of those deaths involved an overly tired commercial driver,” Secretary LaHood explained in his letter.

According to his letter, Secretary LaHood learned that Sen. Ayotte might introduce an amendment prohibiting the use of federal funds “to finalize, enforce, or implement the hours-of-service regulations proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.” He then urged Sen. Ayotte not to introduce the amendment “in the interest of highway safety.”

Some legislators and trucking industry officials have criticized the proposed HOS changes ever since the FMCSA announced them on December 29, 2010. The strongest objections involved three of the proposed changes: a reduction of the maximum allowable driving hours within a 24-hour period from 11 to 10; a requirement that two periods between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. be included in every 34-hour restart and only one restart be allowed per week; and a requirement that commercial drivers take a 30-minute break every 7 hours, which would amount to one hour per every 14- or 16-hour driving window, thereby reducing daily on-duty time from 14 to 13 hours.

Secretary LaHood said that Ayotte’s amendment “would prevent the FMCSA from applying the most comprehensive and up-to-date data and analysis to the issue of driver fatigue and allowable hours of service.”

He also warned that a disruption to the forthcoming rule “potentially undermines the entire regulatory process” (which seems to be about every Republican legislator’s goal these days) and “create confusion and uncertainty among State and Federal enforcement officials, as well as within the motor carrier industry.”

Source:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Proposed Hours of Service changes

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Secretary LaHood warns Republican senator not to obstruct proposed hours-of-service changes

The pilot program, which allows Mexican carriers to make deliveries in the U.S. further than the standard 25-mile restriction, originally launched in 2007 with 31 Mexican trucking firms participating by 2008, but Congress abruptly de-funded it. Mexican authorities retaliated by imposing stiff tariffs on 99 American-made products, such as apples, Christmas trees, grapes, pork, potatoes, refrigerators, and washing machines.

The tariffs made American imports less competitive in the Mexican marketplace and cost U.S. manufacturer more than $2 billion a year in lost revenues. Mexico has promised to repeal the tariffs when the cross-border program is reinstated.

The first cross-border run was made by driver Josué Pérez of Transportes Olympic, which is based just northeast of Monterey, Mexico. Departing on Friday, Mr. Pérez hauled a 30-foot-tall drilling tower to a client in Garland, Texas, 400 miles north of the border.

Another Mexican carrier approved for American deliveries, Tijuana-based Grupo Behr, has been delayed while the Federal Motor Carrier Administration reviews safety concerns expressed by some opponents of the program. Grupo Behr, a small general freight company with seven trucks and seven drivers, was partially cleared by the FMCSA to make long-distance hauls in the U.S., with five of the company’s trucks and three of its drivers passing an FMCSA safety audit.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement on Friday that the NAFTA program “is a big win for American farmers and consumers, who will no longer have to struggle with onerous tariffs imposed by Mexico.”

Mexico’s Embassy in the U.S. praised the cross-border trucking program as “a step toward a more modern, agile, secure, and efficient border” that is “vital for North America’s competitiveness and for job creation on both sides of the border.”

According to a 2009 study conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Congressional de-funding of the NAFTA program and Mexico’s stiff tariffs jeopardized more than 25,000 American jobs. The Chamber also said that the program would make border crossings more efficient and reduced traffic congestion and pollution at the border because trucks could deliver cargo directly rather than stop and unload at a U.S. terminal, where American trucks reload and deliver it.

Opponents of the program, including two Southern California congressmen, Democrat Bob Filner and Republican Duncan Hunter; the Teamsters Union, and the Independent Drivers Association, continue to protest the program, saying it will be a disaster for the U.S. in more ways than one.

“The opening of the border to trucks from Mexico will kill American jobs, it will kill the American environment and unfortunately, we may see American lives lost also,” Rep. Filner said at a Wednesday rally at the Otay Mesa terminal on the California-Mexico border.

Likewise, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said the NAFTA program “is playing Russian roulette with our highway safety in the United States.”

Sources:

Houston Chronicle

Sign on San Diego

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Mexican truck makes first long-haul U.S. delivery

“Each year more than 36,000 people die on the roadways throughout North America — about 4,000 of which are related to large trucks and buses,” said CVSA executive director Stephen A. Keppler. “Many of these deaths are the direct result of unsafe and aggressive driving practices by both passenger and commercial vehicle drivers,” he added.

“We are asking all drivers to join us in providing solutions to this pandemic and to fight back against aggressive and unsafe driving practices, especially distracted driving,” said Keppler.

According to the CVSA, Operation Safe Driver’s aim is to increase commercial vehicle and non-commercial vehicle traffic enforcement; safety belt enforcement; driver roadside inspections; driver regulatory compliance; implementation of commercial driver educational and awareness programs to the motor carrier population; and awareness to the motoring public about safe operations around commercial motor vehicles.

“We need the public’s help in putting a face on safety within our communities and spheres of influence,” Mr. Keppler said. “As an individual, a company or association, there are many things you can do to make a difference. It starts with educating your own employees about the dangers of aggressive and unsafe driving. In addition, you can become an active supporter to stop these senseless deaths that occur daily and affect each and every one of us.”

FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro said the safety campaign “sends a strong message to all drivers to think safety” and demonstrates how serious the agency is “about catching bus or truck drivers who are doing anything less.”

Ms. Ferro said that stepping up the driver and vehicle surveillance and inspections will make roads safer and save lives “by removing thousands of unsafe truck, bus and car drivers from the road.”

“We will not rest until all drivers are thinking safety first, every trip, every time. The Operation Safe Driver Campaign moves us closer to achieving our safety goals,” Ms. Ferro said.

Operation Safe Driver is in full swing this week, recognized as “Safe Driver Week,” and will run through October 22.

Sources:

Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

Today’s Trucking

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Operation Safe Driver aims to improve commercial driving safety across three countries

A second commercial truck clipped Mr. Arguini’s overturned vehicle and drove off the road into a ditch. Mr. Arguini was taken to a hospital in Kearney, Neb., where he was listed in fair condition. The driver of the other truck was not injured.

The other injuries occurred when a Burlington Trailways bus traveling from Omaha to Denver collided with the overturned truck. The driver of the bus, Michelle Anderson, 50, of Omaha, was listed in critical condition at a Kearny hospital. All but six of the 41 passengers from the Trailways bus received treatment at the hospital.

Although there were no human casualties, the 4-year-old service dog of passenger Anthony Pavarotti, 53, was killed in the crash. “I’m having a hard time dealing with it,” Mr. Pavarotti told Omaha World-Herald. “We’ve never been separated.”

Mr. Pavarotti told the Kearny Hub that the bus was traveling in the left lane and the second semi truck was passing on the right when the bus struck the overturned truck and tore through the trailer packed with dry cereal. Mr. Pavarotti was one of the passengers who told the Kearny Hub that the bus driver may have been distracted because she had been talking on her cell phone throughout the trip.

Heather Howell, another passenger on the bus, gave an account that supported Mr. Pavarotti’s version of events, saying that the bus had been swerving during the trip as if the driver were falling asleep. “She was on the phone the whole time from Omaha,” Ms. Howell said. “Another 18-wheeler missed the trailer laying in the middle of the road. She wasn’t paying attention.”

Police investigating the crash, however, said the initial investigation indicated Ms. Anderson had not been using her phone at the time of the crash. According to the Associated Press, a spokesman for the American Bus Association said that the bus company prohibits drivers from using cell phones for personal use while behind the wheel, but they do use them for professional purposes, such as to communicate with dispatchers and terminals.

Both Iowa-based Burlington Trailways and Ms. Anderson have clean safety records, the AP reported. Ms. Anderson had her commercial license for almost 10 years and had logged 824,000 miles without an accident or moving violation.

The bus itself was new and had been in service only a couple of weeks when the crash occurred. It was also equipped with seat belts, although the passengers were not required to use them.

So far there have been no reports on what caused Mr. Arguini to lose control of his truck and crash on the interstate. The crash occurred about 2 a.m., a time when drivers are especially prone to the hypnotic effects of nighttime driving and fatigue – major causes of lowered alertness, slower responses, and nodding off behind the wheel.

Sources:

The Omaha World-Herald

The Independent

The Kearney Hub

The Smart Motorist

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Commercial bus and trucks collide on Nebraska interstate

Last year, Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay had been enjoying the retired life to the fullest – spending time with their children and grandchildren, planning trips, and traveling. But all of that changed suddenly for the Texas couple in May 2010 when they came to a stop in a construction zone while traveling on Interstate 30 near Texarkana.

In Mrs. Lindsay’s words, “a Celadon tractor trailer slammed into the rear of our car. At the time of impact he was traveling 65 mph with his cruise control engaged. John sustained massive injuries. He did not survive.”

Mr. Lindsay explains in her video that the truck driver who collided with their car “was a poster child for sleep apnea. He had all of the signs and symptoms. The fact that that trucking company chose to put him on the road with all of those indicators is just totally irresponsible.”

As we have blogged in the past, sleep apnea is major concern for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the trucking industry alike. The FMCSA estimates that nearly a third of all commercial truck drivers suffer from the breathing condition, which disrupts sleep throughout the night and causes drowsiness, lowered alertness, slower responses, and other symptoms during the daytime hours.

Sleep apnea’s effects on a commercial truck driver have also been linked to fatigued driving, one of the leading causes of commercial truck crashes.

According to trucking website Layover.com, “at least one study has concluded that the impact of untreated sleep apnea on driver performance is comparable to the performance of drivers whose blood alcohol concentrations are above federal limits for driving commercial vehicles.”

“I do not think the American people realize the danger that is on our nation’s highways,” Mrs. Lindsay says. “Sleep apnea is a condition that severely impairs a truck driver’s ability to operate their vehicles.”

Evidence shows that sleep apnea may have played a role in a deadly 2009 crash in Oklahoma that killed 10 people after the driver of a commercial tractor trailer dozed off behind the wheel.

Studies have shown that very few people with sleep apnea, commercial truck drivers included, realize they have the disorder. Thus the fight is not a fight to undermine our nation’s commercial truck drivers, but to raise awareness of the sleep apnea problem and actively work to prevent the behaviors that cause it.

“The amount of money it would take to put a safety program in place to focus on sleep apnea is miniscule, and the fact that (commercial carriers) are not doing it is just not acceptable,” Mrs. Lindsay asserts.

For more information about sleep apnea in the commercial trucking industry, visit http://sleepapneakills.org/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › After devastating loss, Texas woman declares war on sleep apnea in the trucking industry

The study, conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, provided a comprehensive analysis of the CSA model to determine if its new Safety Measurement System (SMS) system performed better than the SafeStat method. According to Truckinginfo.com, the researchers found the new system was indeed better; it reached more carriers and helped improve their performance. But two of the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) needed adjustment.

The BASICs include grading for fatigued driving / Hours-of-Service compliance; driver fitness; controlled substances & alcohol; vehicle maintenance; cargo securement; and crash indicators. According to the UMTRI report, the driver fitness and cargo securement BASICs were weaker indicators of crash risk than the other BASICs.

CSA’s SMS is essentially a version of the former SafeStat safety performance ranking system re-engineered to work more efficiently and be more effective in identifying problem carriers. The information gleaned from crash and inspection reports provide FMCSA with a better picture of how well commercial carriers and drivers comply with safety rules, making it easier to identify which display high-risk behavior or a disregard for laws and basic safety standards.

Truckinginfo.com reports that researchers involved in the CSA analysis “found that there was a lag time in measureable safety performance improvement after investigations, and that carriers with serious safety problems showed improvement rates similar to those in the control group,” indicating that the new program is achieving its goal of pushing trucking companies and drivers to adhere to high safety standards.

The UMTRI report also notes that the FMCSA is also conducting a study that could led to the needed improvements.

Source:

Truckinginfo.com

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Study finds CSA safety rating system works well, but still has flaws

Driver fatigue is a top safety concern for commercial drivers, motor carriers, and safety regulators alike. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) says that crashes caused by fatigued drivers of commercial trucks and buses kill 750 people and injure 20,000 others each year. More broadly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that there are 100,000 fatigued-driving related crashes annually in the U.S., injuring 71,000 people and killing 1,550.

Falling asleep at the wheel is a huge problem, especially if you spend long hours behind the wheel of truck, day in and day out. The FMCSA will soon issue new Hours of Service (HOS) rules that mandate driving and rest periods for commercial truck drivers, but there are a number of things that drivers can do to minimize their chances of falling asleep at the wheel.

Below are six tips created by federal regulators to help more drivers understand and alleviate the problem of fatigued driving:

1: Get enough sleep before getting behind the wheel

Be sure to get an adequate amount of sleep each night. If possible, do not drive while your body is naturally drowsy, between the hours of 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Driver drowsiness may impair a driver’s response time to potential hazards, increasing the chances of being in a crash. If you do become drowsy while driving, be sure to choose a safe place to pull over and rest.

• The circadian rhythm refers to the wake/sleep cycle that our body goes through each day and night. The cycle involves our internal clock and controls the daily pattern of alertness in a human body. With inadequate sleep, the drowsiness experienced during natural “lulls” can be even stronger and may have a greater adverse effect on a driver’s performance and alertness.
• A study by the FMCSA found that driver alertness was related to “time-of-day” more so than “time-on-task.” Most people are less alert at night, especially after midnight. This drowsiness may be enhanced if you have been on the road for an extended period of time.
• A recent study conducted to determine the risk of having a safety-critical event as a function of driving-hour suggests that incidents are highest during the first hour of driving. The authors hypothesize that drivers may be affected by sleep inertia shortly after waking from sleep. This may be especially true for drivers who sleep in the sleeper berth. Sleep inertia refers to impairment in a variety of performance tasks, including short-term memory, vigilance, cognitive functioning, reaction time, and ability to resist sleep.

2: Maintain a healthy diet

Skipping meals or eating at irregular times may lead to fatigue and/or food cravings. Also, going to bed with an empty stomach or immediately after a heavy meal can interfere with sleep. A light snack before bed may help you achieve more restful sleep. Remember that if you are not well-rested, induced fatigue may cause slow reaction time, reduced attention, memory lapses, lack of awareness, mood changes, and reduced judgment ability.

• A recent study conducted on the sleeping and driving habits of CMV drivers concluded that an unhealthy lifestyle, long working hours, and sleeping problems were the main causes of drivers falling asleep while driving.

3: Take a nap

If possible, you should take a nap when feeling drowsy or less alert. Naps should last a minimum of 10 minutes, but ideally a nap should last up to 45 minutes. Allow at least 15 minutes after waking to fully recover before starting to drive.

• Short naps are more effective at restoring energy levels than coffee.
• Naps aimed at preventing drowsiness are generally more effective in maintaining a driver’s performance than naps taken when a person is already drowsy.

4: Avoid Medication that could cause drowsiness

Avoid medications that may make you drowsy if you plan to get behind the wheel. Most drowsiness-inducing medications include a warning label indicating that you should not operate vehicles or machinery during use. Some of the most common medicines that may make you drowsy are: tranquilizers, sleeping pills, allergy medicines and cold medicines.

Did You Know? In a recent study, 17 percent of CMV drivers were reported as having “over-the-counter drug use” at the time of a crash.

• Cold pills are one of the most common medicines that may make you drowsy. If you must drive with a cold, it is safer to suffer from the cold than drive under the effects of the medicine.

5: Recognize the signals and dangers of drowsiness

Pay attention: Indicators of drowsiness include: frequent yawning, heavy eyes, and blurred vision.

• Research has indicated that being awake for 18 hours is comparable to having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent, which is legally intoxicated and leaves you at equal risk for a crash.
• A 2005 study suggests that three out of every four CMV drivers report having experienced at least one type of driving error as a result of drowsiness.
• On October 16, 2005 at 2 a.m., a 23-year-old CMV driver fell asleep behind the wheel, causing him to enter a ditch and eventually roll his truck over on both west-bound lanes of Interstate 94. Minutes later, a charter bus carrying a school band crashed into the truck killing 5 and injuring 29 others. As a result of the crash, the CMV driver was charged with 5 counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle and 29 counts of reckless driving that caused great bodily harm. If convicted he could have faced nearly 90 years in prison.

6: Do not rely on “alertness tricks” to keep you awake

Behaviors such as smoking, turning up the radio, drinking coffee, opening the window, and other “alertness tricks” are not real cures for drowsiness and may give you a false sense of security.

• Excessive intake of caffeine can cause insomnia, headaches, irritability, and nervousness.
• It takes several minutes for caffeine to get into your system and deliver the energy boost you need, so if you are already tired when you first drink a caffeinated drink, it may not take effect as quickly as you might expect. In addition, if you are a regular caffeine user, the effect may be much smaller.
• Rolling the window down or turning the radio up may help you feel more alert for an instant, but these are not effective ways to maintain an acceptable level of alertness.

Sources:

ENCToday.com

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Reducing fatigued driving: six tips to help you stay awake and alert behind the wheel

Opponents of the rule changes, including John Mica (R-FL) who serves as the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and three other Republican legislators, have vowed to intervene if the proposed changes are included in the final rule.

In a letter to President Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the four said they would “aggressively oversee” any new “regulatory burdens” the FMCSA imposes on the trucking industry with the new rule.

“If finalized, the proposed changes would have a substantial negative impact on the productivity of the $600 billion trucking industry and will quickly result in a drag on the staggering U.S. economy,” the lawmakers said in the letter, dated Sept. 23.

The letter also argued that imposing new limits on drivers would have a negative impact on commercial vehicle and highway safety.

“We are very concerned the proposed changes will result in additional trucks and drivers on the road to deliver the same amount of freight, adding to final product costs and increasing congestion on our overburdened highways,” the Congressmen added. “In our enormous, consumer-driven economy, the last thing our government should be doing is artificially increasing the costs of almost every consumer good with unneeded regulation.”

The lawmakers object to three proposed changes to the HOS rules. One, a stated preference by the FMCSA, would reduce the maximum allowable driving hours within a 24-hour period from 11 to 10. They also oppose the requirement that two periods between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. be included in every 34-hour restart, and that only one restart would be allowed per week.

The third objection involves a change requiring commercial drivers to take a 30-minute break every 7 hours, which would mean a required one-hour break within every 14- or 16-hour driving window, thereby reducing daily on-duty time from 14 to 13 hours. However, the proposed rule states that drivers could extend the driving window to 16 hours twice a week.

Transport Topics

The Trucker

RSI Insurance Brokers

DC Velocity

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › GOP lawmakers poised to fight Hours of Service changes

A witness told KAJ18 that the tractor trailer had attempted to make a right turn off of Montana Highway 83 onto Highway 35 North when the trailer fell out from underneath. The Montana State Highway Patrol inspected the vehicle and said it appeared the pin that helped secure the logs in place with a metal frame broke off, causing a number of the logs to roll off the trailer.

Two other vehicles were struck by the falling logs, but no injuries were reported. One of the drivers said he saw what was happening and sped up to avoid being hit but that the logs clipped the back end of his pickup truck. Another driver in a pickup truck also tried to get out of the way, but the falling logs smashed the front end of the vehicle.

“The Montana Highway Patrol says everyone is lucky they weren’t hurt and that a mechanical malfunction is to blame for the mishap,” KAJ18 reported.

An MHP officer who responded to the crash offered the following advice to truckers who could find themselves in a similar situation:  “Just make sure that you do your annual inspections on your commercial motor vehicles, making sure that your equipment’s functional.”

According to KAJ18, the driver of the logging truck was cited for failing to secure the cargo on his commercial motor vehicle.

Many of the densely forested regions of Montana see a lot of commercial logging activity, so accidents involving logging trucks aren’t rare. The Montana Chapter of the Northwest Log Truckers Cooperative offers a lot of valuable information on its website to logging truck drivers and motorists who share the roads with them, such as: “Human Factors Cause Accidents” and “Don’t Hang Out in the NO-Zone.”

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Montana log truck spill causes crash and road blockage

The crash occurred in North Berwick, Maine, July 11 when driver Peter Barnum, 35, failed to stop at a railroad crossing and slammed into the train carrying 112 passengers and 4 Amtrak employees. Mr. Barnum was killed instantly. Several passengers and Amtrak crew received minor injuries in the fiery crash.

The North Berwick Police Department, which was considered the lead investigator in the case, issued a press release Monday concluding that the “cause of this crash is driver inattention / distraction by the possible use of a mobile communication device by Mr. Barnum.” The investigation remains open, however, for other agencies involved, including State Police, Amtrak, and the Federal Railroad Administration.

The press release also said that both the gates and signals were functioning properly at the intersection where the crash occurred. Police said that skid marks at the scene measuring 75 feet long indicate that Mr. Barnum tried to stop the truck, which was carrying 25 tons of trash to an incinerator facility, but it was too late. The truck slid around the lowered gates and crashed into the front of the train.

Amtrak has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Barnum’s employer, Triumvirate Enviro-Mental, in a Massachusetts federal court, seeking $3 million to cover the cost of the engine and passenger cars that were destroyed in the crash.

Damaged tracks have also disrupted the Downeaster route, which provides service between Boston and Portland, Maine. The train ordinarily travels 70 mph in the vicinity but must slow to about 30 mph.

The North Berwick Police Department’s conclusion comes at a time when National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a comprehensive ban on cell phone use for all commercial truck and bus drivers. The NTSB bases its proposal in part on a rash caused by a distracted commercial truck driver in Munfordville, Kentucky that killed 11 people last year.

Source:

The Morning Sentinel

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Police blame Maine Amtrak crash on distracted truck driver

The 3-year pilot program was originally launched in 2007 with 31 Mexican trucking firms participating by 2008, but Congress abruptly defunded it. In response, Mexican officials imposed stiff tariffs on 99 U.S. exports, making the products uncompetitive in the Mexican market and costing American companies about $2 billion a year. Mexico has promised to roll back the tariffs completely when the NAFTA program resumes, starting with an immediate 50-percent repeal.

Grupo Behr is a small general freight company with seven trucks and seven drivers, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records. An audit of the carrier cleared five of the company’s trucks and three of its drivers to make long-distance hauls in the U.S. FMCSA records show that Grupo Behr hasn’t been involved in any crashes for at least two years.

Another Mexican carrier, Transportes Olympic of Apodaca, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, is also close to gaining approval for the pilot program. Transportes Olympic specializes in hauling metal sheets, pipes, and coils. It has two trucks and two drivers and also participated in the original NAFTA pilot.

Although the FMCSA is nearly ready to launch the pilot program, an exact starting date has not been set. The FMCSA has opened its approval of Grupo Behr to public comment until September 22. It’s also uncertain how the pending lawsuits will affect the program’s progress.

Sources:

Truckinginfo.com

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Mexicotrucker.com

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › First Mexican carrier gets green light to make long hauls north of the border

The NTSB doesn’t have the authority to create and impose new safety regulations, but its recommendations carry much weight in federal and state regulatory agencies as well as private industries. The ban would include the use of hands-free devices, a stipulation backed up by studies that have found hands-free communication can be just as distracting and dangerous as handheld devices.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman told MSNBC that she expects there will be some outcry in response to the board’s proposal. “It may not be something that’s widely embraced. This is not going to be popular. But, we’re not here to be popular. We’re here to do what needs to be done,” Hersman told MSNBC.

Mr. Laymon’s widow, Misty Laymon, told MSNBC that her husband was careful about driving and using the phone, and that he even bought a hands-free device to ensure more safety behind the wheel. However, investigators informed the NTSB that Mr. Laymon had been talking and texting in the hours leading up to the early morning crash.

Kentucky is one of 34 states that have banned texting for all drivers, but talking on a cell phone behind the wheel is still legal. The NTSB sent its recommendations for an extensive cell phone ban to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and all 50 states.

Federal authorities have ruled out alcohol and drug use in the Kentucky crash, but said that fatigue may also have played a role. Mr. Laymon had been driving for 13 hours from Lansing, Michigan, when the crash occurred. One investigator told MSNBC that Mr. Laymon “panicked and hit the brakes but didn’t try to steer his tractor-trailer out of the median.”

The 38-ton truck instead plowed through a cable barrier and crashed head-on with a van carrying a Mennonite family and friends to a wedding in Iowa. Mr. Laymon and 10 passengers in the van were killed. The only survivors were two young children who were secured in safety seats.

The fiery crash prompted the FMCSA to investigate and subsequently shut down Hester, Inc., of Fayette, Alabama, which employed Mr. Laymon. According to the agency’s records, the company’s drivers were inspected 194 times in about 30 months, resulting in 21 drivers being pulled off the road for logbook violations and exceeding driving limits.

The NTSB believes that after closing down, Hester was “bought” by FTS Fleet Services of Little Rock, Arkansas, though the company uses Hester’s same trucks and drivers. FMCSA authorities fined and suspended FTS but ordered it to pay the $13,000 federal fine Hester received after the Kentucky crash.

Sources:

MSNBC

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NTSB calls for comprehensive commercial-truck cell phone ban

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, alleges the standards set forth in the pilot program aren’t strict enough for Mexican carriers and drivers. Mexican trucks, for example, would not be required under the program’s current rules to display proof of compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.

Seven Mexican long-haul carriers have applied to make delivery runs in the U.S. under the NAFTA pilot program. Two of those are on track to gain U.S. operating authority by the end of this month and could start making runs in the U.S. within weeks if the program goes through.

But that’s a big “if.” As Truckinginfo.com points out, both Democratic and Republican administrations and legislators have advocated for the cross-border carrier program, but various groups, including safety advocacy organizations, environmental groups, and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) have sought ways to derail it.

When Congress suddenly defunded the 2007-2009 pilot program, the Mexican government imposed stiff tariffs on 99 U.S. products, making them uncompetitive south of the border and costing American companies more than $2 billion a year. Mexico is now poised to roll back the taxes with the program’s resumption, starting with an immediate 50 percent tariff repeal. The economic implications of the program are enormous. U.S. companies hope to regain their footing in the Mexican marketplace but worry that Mexico has had two full years to forge relationships with other competitors.

Truckinginfo.com noted that federal regulators intend to compare the performance of Mexican carriers against the performance of U.S. carriers over a three-year period. Interestingly, in the earlier cross-border pilot program during the Bush Administration, federal regulators “found that Mexican carriers had no accidents and much lower out-of-service rates than U.S. trucks and drivers.”

However, there weren’t enough Mexican carriers in the program to create a statistically valid sample, and U.S. authorities in all likelihood approved only the best of the best Mexican carriers for participation in the program.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking agreement threatened by lawsuit

Just the simple exchange of EOBR data from truck driver to law enforcement officials, for instance, is a lot more complicated than regulators must have imagined. According to Truckinginfo.com, police officers don’t want to enter the cab to look at or retrieve EOBR data because not only would be unsafe for them, truck drivers, they say, would find it intrusive and even harassing.

Printing the EOBR data on-site would require either trucking companies or law enforcement to invest in and carry printers, but expense, compatibility, and security concerns make the prospect unfeasible.

The Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MSCAS), a 19-member panel with representatives from the trucking industry, law enforcement, independent drivers, safety advocates, and the Teamsters Union, recently met to seek solutions to the unique problems posed by electronic log keeping. Police representatives in the panel said that budgets are too lean to invest in add-on printers at this time, while some industry executives argued that taxpayers ought to foot the bill. Police would also have to find a printer not only durable enough to take everywhere and use in different weather conditions, they would also need one that is compatible across the EOBR spectrum.

And, while the cost of the printers (upwards of $200 or more on most EOBR models) might be absorbed by large trucking companies relatively easily, smaller carriers and independent drivers might find them financially out of reach.

USB devices that could be plugged into EOBRs and then connected to police computers would be an easy and cheap way of transferring the data, but the security risks are so high that they are “insurmountable.” Truckinginfo.com notes that many states, California included, have banned the use of USB devices in similar applications for fear of bugs, viruses, and security breaches.

So far the only practical option is to either have the truck driver print the log for the past 7 days or, lacking a printer, transcribe the data from the EOBR onto a paper log sheet and certify that the handwritten copy matches the electronic data – an approach that defeats the accuracy, reliability, and ease that led regulators to require EOBRs in the first place.

The EOBR data transfer issue is just one of more than a dozen problems for which the MSCAS is seeking solutions that it can propose to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) by the end of the year. FMCSA authorities regularly call on the MSCAS advisory panel for recommendations.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Electronic onboard recorders present new, unforeseen problems

An abstract in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, which published the study’s findings, described the new method as a “psychomotor vigilance test” that “rapidly assesses attention, reaction time, and abnormal vigilance” and thus may help identify drivers at high risk for OSA and excessive daytime sleepiness.

The test is administered on portable, handheld computers and takes 10 minutes to complete. The Harvard researchers say the results can be quickly read and interpreted.

“Our goal is to develop objective screening methods beyond obesity for obstructive sleep apnea to be used in occupational health settings,” said Mr. Kales, who serves as division chief and medical director of Employee and Industrial Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance.

“Subjective reports of excessive daytime sleepiness are notoriously unreliable, especially during fitness-for-work examinations, and obesity in isolation as a screen has generated resistance from many drivers,” Kales said.

Fitness levels and fatigue among commercial drivers are of critical concern to U.S. safety regulators, who are working to develop better ways to drive down the number of crashes caused by commercial drivers who fall asleep behind the wheel or suffer from a medical condition that causes them to lose control of their vehicle. Recent studies have found that driver fatigue is often a direct result of OSA, which is predominantly found in obese drivers.

Because long-distance driving is sedentary by nature, as many as half of all commercial drivers in the U.S. are obese – a rate considerably higher than the general population. Safety regulators are discovering the problem is enormous and potential harm to the general public will likely grow if measures aren’t taken to curb the occurrence of OSA and fatigue in commercial drivers.

Study participants who took the 10-minute test were told to react as quickly as they could to certain computer-based cues. Out of 193 male participants, 8 percent displayed delayed reaction times and were categorized as “microsleepers.” The Harvard researchers found that the not all obese participants suffered from OSA, but all participants with signs of OSA were significantly more obese than other participants.

Sources:

Psychomotor Vigilance Testing of Professional Drivers in the Occupational Health Clinic: A Potential Objective Screen for Daytime Sleepiness

Harvard Researchers Study Potential Sleep Apnea Screening Tool

Harvard researches sleep apnea screening tool

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Simple new test may help identify drivers at risk for sleep apnea, fatigue

The driver of the tanker truck received minor injuries in the crash but was not taken to a hospital for treatment. According to the Denver Post, the truck, owned by Gilco Transportation of Rifle, Colo., had been hauling 7,200 gallons of fuel. When it toppled, manhole-size covers on the top of the tanker opened up, releasing about 4,000 gallons of diesel immediately into the creek, which ran red because the fuel had been dyed to identify it for use in farm machinery.

Dead fish were seen floating along the creek immediately after the spill, according to some reports. 9News.com reported that a fisherman fishing downstream from the spill Saturday pulled up handfuls of dead and dying insects from the creek.

Thomas Schneider of Sunrise Anglers in Littleton, told the Denver Post that ”Fish were visibly in distress … They seem to be in the death throes, where they would go on their sides and then flick wildly to right themselves.” He later reported that instead of dead fish, what he found were “fish in almost a stupor. You can walk right up to them and almost touch them. It’s like their vision is severely impaired.”

Mr. Schneider told the Denver Post that the spill seems to have killed off all the insects around Clear Creek. ”The one thing I have noticed is absolutely no bugs in the air. I have been on that stretch with clients a lot in the last two weeks and the amount of bugs popping (before the spill) was incredible — three or four different caddis, PMDs, midges, beatis and red quills. . . . They have been wiped out.”

State Patrol Sgt. Mike Baker told the Denver Post that the spill posed “a number of dangerous possibilities” and that “everybody who has a stake in downstream of Clear Creek has been notified.”

First responders to the crash pumped the tanker’s remaining load of fuel into a container. Several officials from federal, state, and municipal agencies also arrived on the scene to assist in clean-up and investigation. Responders on the scene built a retaining pond to collect some of the fuel and deployed booms to absorb more of the diesel that had made its way further downstream.

According to Summit Daily, clean-up and remediation work on-site and downstream has since been taken over by BELFOR Property Restoration, with the Colorado Department of Health supervising the efforts.

“The goal is to restore (Clear Creek) to its natural state,” Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Adrian Driscoll told Summit Daily, adding that it would likely take several more weeks for the spill to be “fully mitigated.” He told Summit Daily that other older spills in the area continue to be monitored, some of them 10 years after the accident. Gilco Transportation will be billed for the cleanup and remediation costs, which will likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sources:
Denver Post
Summit Daily

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Fuel tanker rollover spills thousands of gallons of diesel into Colorado creek

Con-Way Freight drivers have always been strong contenders at the National Truck Driving Championships. In fact, Mr. Phillips’ win represents the third consecutive year a Con-Way driver has won the title. Mr. Phillips succeeded 2010 Grand Champion Carl Krites of Sidney, Ohio, who succeeded Dale Duncan of San Diego, California. As a driver for Conway, Mr. Duncan was named National Grand Champion in both 2009 and 2006.

The National Truck Driving Championship, together with its 50 state-level championships, is regarded as one of the trucking industry’s largest and most effective programs. Known as the “Super Bowl of Safety,” the annual competitions inspire drivers to maintain safe and accident-free driving records for the right to earn a chance to compete.

Contestants at the national level are state champions in nine truck-type divisions from all 50 states. This year, national contenders have driven 595,155,665 accident-free miles collectively.

Each driver nominated to the national championships must demonstrate his or her professional driving skills, knowledge, and professionalism through a series of competitions, including a written examination, personal interview, pre-trip inspection test, and skills test involving braking, judging distances, parking, backing, and maneuvering the vehicle precisely over scales, before barriers, and around curves.

Mr. Phillips won the 2011 title by outscoring 428 of his peers, all of whom represent the nation’s best truck drivers. He has competed in state truck driving championships for 15 years, and 2011 was his second trip to the Nationals as California state champion in the Straight Truck class. The title National Grand Champion gives Mr. Phillips will be recognized across the industry as the nation’s top truck driver.

According to Con-Way Freight, the company is awarding Mr. Phillips a new Ford F-150 pickup truck or the cash equivalent. He also will receive a customized commercial Con-way Freight tractor displaying his name and championship title, which he will drive exclusively for the next year.

Sources:

Con-way Freight Three-Peats at Super Bowl of Safety

Commercial truck drivers head to orlando for driving safety championship event

Truck driving championship competition focuses on safety

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › California man named America’s top truck driver

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has pushed for the new proposal based on the demonstrated success of stability control systems in preventing crashes. According to the agency, rollover and loss-of-control crashes involving heavy vehicles are responsible for 304 deaths and 2,738 injuries every year.

Stability control systems effectively prevent single-vehicle tractor trailer rollovers 56 percent of the time and skidding crashes 14 percent of the time. NHTSA estimates the reduction in heavy vehicle crashes will save up to 66 lives per year and prevent up to 979 injuries.

Additionally, the control systems would prevent between 810–1,693 crashes resulting in property damage only, saving up to $26 million in property damage and travel delays. However, NHTSA says the cost savings from reducing property damage and travel delays would produce net benefits of up to $372 million every year.

Chad England, who oversees C.R. England, one of the largest trucking companies in North America, told Truckinginfo.com that stability control systems are “the biggest winner in safety technology as far as I am concerned.” According to Mr. England, stability control systems reduced the rollover rate across his company’s fleets by 50 percent. Such dramatic crash prevention not only saves lives and money, but helps carriers prevent an undesirable spike in their CSA scores.

Citing financial burdens a mandate would impose on smaller, independent operations, Joe Raikovacz, director of regulatory affairs for the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, told Truckinginfo.com he opposed NHTSA’s proposal. According to Truckinginfo.com, “He fears that this expense, on top of other regulatory expenses such as emission controls and electronic onboard recorders, will drive the cost of a truck beyond the reach of small businesses.”

Costs can range from $800 to $2,300 depending on the type of system and its capabilities. Other fears may emerge from the fact that nobody knows for certain how NHTSA will deal with the two types of stability control systems on the market (Electronic Stability Control and Roll Stability Control), or whether older tractors will have to be retrofitted.

Details of NHTSA’s proposal will be available when it is published later this year.

Sources:

Report on DOT Significant Rulemakings

Truckinginfo.com

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NHTSA stability-control-system requirement for tractors draws near

The incident occurred just after 11 a.m. when driver Julio Fernandez, 51, was hauling a load of cardboard for A&D Logistics of North Bergen, New Jersey. State police say that the tractor trailer’s brakes failed as it traveled down the steep stretch of highway. Mr. Fernandez wasn’t able to stop in time to avoid hitting the cars in front of him, but he stayed in the middle of the road where there was more of a clearing, perhaps mitigating the collisions he had with another 8 vehicles before coming to a stop on the shoulder.

According to the Pocono Record, a preliminary investigation found the truck’s brakes were faulty, but the investigation continues to determine if any other mechanical failures may have been in play.

If the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Safety Measurement System (SMS) is an accurate predictor of performance, the A&D Logistics truck was an accident waiting to happen. A profile for A&D Logistics Inc. of North Bergen, NJ on the website Quick Transportation Systems Inc., shows the company scores poorly in SMS as of last month.

Using documented violations and other information such as crash statistics, regulators calculate a safety percentile for motor carriers from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the worst performance. A&D received an SMS score of 99 in unsafe truck driving, an 89 in fatigued truck driving (Hours of Service), and a 97 in vehicle maintenance. The company was also designated as “over the threshold” for intervention in all three.

The same company profile says that A&D Logistics is a one-person, one-truck company.

Sources:

The Pocono Record

Quick Transportation Systems Inc.

Interpreting SMS scores

SMS Methodology

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck in 10-car Pennsylvania crash has poor safety record

According to the Metrowest Daily News, a spokeswoman for National Grid said that the Freightliner truck was being tested after employees identified safety concerns with the new vehicle.

“This was a new model of dump truck which National Grid was continuing to evaluate and test-drive following some safety considerations which had been identified by our employees,” National Grid spokeswoman Debbie Drew said. “We take safety very seriously, and we are undertaking a full investigation internally as well as cooperating with the authorities.”

The truck was traveling on I-495 southbound near Southborough, Mass. when it rolled over about 1:15 p.m. Friday. A witness told WCVB-TV that the crash occurred while the truck was changing lanes. “He went to go to the right lane and overcompensated, and the backhoe fell off the trailer,” the witness said.

The truck jackknifed, sending it and the 2000 Toyota Sienna, driven by Yingzi Wang, 42, of Westford, rolling down an embankment. The backhoe landed on top of the minivan, trapping the van’s occupants inside. The driver and her children, a girl, 13, and a boy, 10, were taken to UMass memorial Hospital for injuries. “She’s in very poor condition,” Wang’s husband, Frank Ye, told the Boston Herald.

According to the Boston Herald, state police detectives are analyzing the Freightliner’s recall history to determine whether there may be a link between the crash and safety issues with the truck. “It is unclear how many trucks were recalled, or whether the National Grid truck was among them,” the Boston Herald reported.

“There are numerous potential contributing factors that we are investigating: driver error, mechanical problems and how the equipment was secured to the trailer,” State police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald.

“In addition, we will investigate the following: recall history, defect analysis databases for the vehicle in question and the propriety of when, where and how (Friday’s) reported safety test was conducted.”

Sources:

Boston Herald

Metrowest Daily News

WCVB-TV

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck that caused fatal crash was being safety tested on busy MA highway

The ATRI report, based on survey data collected from 4,555 U.S. drivers, also documents and evaluates the drivers’ attitudes about CSA and their comprehension of the new rules. Misunderstandings of the new regulatory program dominated the survey results.

For instance, 78 percent of the drivers mistakenly believe that trucking companies inherit past violations from newly hired truckers. And, as always, wherever there is a lack of understanding, there is fear; the majority of respondents said they were afraid they could lose their jobs because of CSA. A quarter of the drivers said they expected their pay would be reduced.

All but 13 percent of the drivers polled believed incorrectly that traffic tickets and several other traffic blemishes factored into the FMCSA’s SMS (Safety Measurement System) record, when in fact state data, including tickets, citations, written warnings, and convictions, are not merged with the federal CSA data.

Likewise, nearly three fourths of the drivers erroneously believed the FMCSA could use CSA data to revoke a commercial driver’s license (CDL). However, the FMCSA does not have jurisdiction over the state agencies that issue commercial driving licenses, so CSA data can not be used to suspend or revoke licenses.

“ATRI’s study clearly points out that motor carriers, state trucking associations and FMCSA collectively need to do more to educate drivers about CSA and what it does and doesn’t mean for their jobs,” said Ed Crowell, Georgia Motor Trucking Association President and CEO.

The survey also found that nearly 69 percent of the drivers thought that CSA used their personal driving records (tickets, warnings, convictions, etc. they received while driving their personal vehicles) to quantify professional driving performance. However, CSA does not collect or use the personal driving records of commercial drivers in any way.

The majority of drivers also believed that CSA encompassed changes in federal safety regulations when in fact no rule changes have been made in conjunction with the new safety measuring system. Trucking info notes that the FMCSA is pushing for a change to the rules governing how it calculates whether a commercial carrier is fit to operate.

Trucking info also notes that 99 percent of drivers polled could not identify the BASIC scores (grading for fatigues driving / Hours-of-Service; driver fitness; controlled substances & alcohol; vehicle maintenance; cargo securement; and crash indicator) that are made publicly available. Ninety-eight percent of the drivers did not know that FMCSA staff are the only people who can access drivers’ official scores.

Sources:

American Transportation Research Institute

Info about CSA from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Truckinginfo website

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Survey finds most professional truckers don’t understand CSA system

The National Truck Driving Championship, together with its 50 state-level championships, is regarded as one of the trucking industry’s largest and most effective programs. Known as the “Super Bowl of Safety,” the annual competitions inspire drivers to maintain a safe and accident-free driving record for the right to compete.

According to the American Trucking Associations, the Championships are a great incentive for professional truck drivers to operate safely, because they must be accident-free for at least one year prior to the competition. Many of the competitors even have millions of accident-free driving miles to their credit.

Competitive divisions within the competition include straight truck, three-axle, four-axle, five-axle, tank truck, flatbed, five-axle sleeper, twins, and step van. In the comprehensive competition, each driver nominated to the national championships must demonstrate his or her professional driving skills, knowledge, and professionalism through a series of competitions, including a written examination, personal interview, pre-trip inspection test, and skills test involving braking, parking, backing, and maneuvering.

Many competing drivers describe the experience as like being in the Olympics, where winning is the goal but the excitement, prestige, and camaraderie all make the event alluring.

Awards are given for first, second, and third place finishes, and drivers also vie for the professional Excellence Award, the Vehicle Condition Award, the Rookie of the Year Award, and the most coveted designation – the Grand Champion Award.

According to the ATA, the National Truck Driving Championship has a long history going back to 1937, when the event was known as the National Truck “Road”eo.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Commercial truck drivers head to Orlando for driving safety championship event

According to South Carolina State Troopers, 69-year-old Eddie Wyatt of Rockmart, Georgia, was driving southbound when his truck, bearing a “U.S. Mail Contractor” insignia on its door, veered across the highway median and crashed into traffic in the northbound lanes. The Anderson County Coroner’s Office reported that Mr. Wyatt had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The driver of the northbound truck that was struck head-on, Clay Lashawn Johnson, 38, also died at the scene of the crash. The impact caused Mr. Johnson’s truck to jackknife and collide with a pick-up truck towing a boat and an SUV. The driver of the pick-up, Jeremy Scott Wilson, 33, of Blacksburg, S.C., was killed in the crash. According to the Independent Mail, Mr. Wilson had left his home around 10 a.m. headed to Hartwell Lake with his bass boat for fishing.

“Two tractor-trailers were damaged beyond repair in the wreck. The cab of one of the trucks became completely detached and landed down an embankment on the side of the road, requiring rescuers to rappel down to reach it,” the Independent Mail reported.

The two people who were airlifted to the hospital were traveling in the SUV. They are expected to survive their injuries. The Independent Mail also reported that medics and firefighters launched a larger relief effort to tend to the motorists stranded on the highway behind the jackknifed tuck, providing water and medical attention to anyone who needed it. Several vehicles ran out of gas or overheated, but no major injuries occurred before the traffic began to flow again at 5 p.m.

“It is one of the worst I’ve seen in 24 years of firefighting,” Anderson County Fire Chief Billy Gibson told the Independent Mail.

Driving while fatigued is so lethal that it is often compared to drunk driving. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 36 percent of Americans polled admitted to nodding off or falling asleep behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that there are 100,000 fatigued-driving related crashes annually in the U.S., injuring 71,000 people and killing 1,550. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says that crashes caused by fatigued drivers of commercial trucks and buses kill 750 people and injure 20,000 others.

For more information:

fatigued driving research and statistics

commercial vehicle crash statistics

WSPA Spartanburg, SC

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Two commercial truck drivers and third motorist die in South Carolina crash

According to the Langley Times, the Howard family of Palo Alto, California, was apparently vacationing in Canada and had just crossed into the country the previous day. They were traveling in a van, which was towing a compact 4×4 vehicle, when the tractor trailer crossed the center line on an S curve and jackknifed into the path of the van.

Eyewitnesses reported that the van drove onto the shoulder of the highway in an unsuccessful effort to avoid hitting the truck. The van collided with the truck and became pinned against the roadside barriers. The tractor trailer’s fuel tanks then caught on fire and exploded, engulfing all three vehicles in fire.

Although the driver of the truck, a 40-year-old from the Vancouver, BC region, was able to escape his vehicle without serious injury, the surrounding blaze was so intense that he could not assist the van’s occupants.

“CTV has identified the occupants of the van as the Howard family, made up of Robert, 49, Ana-Maria, 50, and daughters Samantha, 11, and Veronica, 9,” the Langley Times reports.

RCMP, park staff and local fire and ambulance crews responded to the scene, and the highway remained closed until late that night as responders battled the flames and began their investigation.

Investigators found the vehicles so damaged that they had to be moved to another location for forensic analysis. Royal Canadian Mounted Police detained the driver of the truck but released him or her later Friday night without pressing charges. The crash remains under investigation and the RCMP are seeking witnesses that may help them understand why the the truck driver veered out of his lane.

Photo credit: Joshua Estabrooks/Columbia Valley Pioneer

Additional Source:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110724/california-family-bc-crash-110724/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › British Columbia truck crash kills vacationing California family

The Bangor Daily News reports that commercial driver Christian Cloutier, 57, of Quebec, Canada, fell asleep behind the wheel of his logging truck while driving on U.S. Route 201 in Jackman, Maine, and crashed into the nearby home. Images on the Daily News’ website show the undercarriage of the overturned truck, with its load of logs splayed into the front of the house. The impact of the logs caused the second floor of the house to buckle and cave in, leaving the front of the house leaning forward and the top floor smashed into the ground-level floor.

The boy who was killed in the crash was identified as Liam Mahaney. Five other occupants of the house were treated for injuries at a local clinic and later released, with the exception of the boy’s mother, who was admitted to another hospital with unspecified but non life-threatening injuries.

No charges have been filed against the Mr. Cloutier or his company D.A.N. Express of Quebec. The Daily News reports that authorities impounded the heavily damaged 2011 Peterbilt truck for further inspection. Authorities continue to investigate the crash and the safety records of the driver and commercial carrier.

According to the Daily News, Mr. Cloutier told investigators that “he fell asleep, struck two utility poles before his vehicle flipped onto its side and against the house rented by Gary and Christine Mahaney and another family.” Mr. Cloutier was listed in fair condition at a Bangor hospital.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Maine logging truck rollover kills 5-year-old asleep in house

Jurors began deliberating Thursday morning after hearing the emotionally charged case, which involves Marcos Costa, a 46-year-old immigrant from Brazil and resident of Everett, Mass., who was driving a 25-ton car hauler though the San Gabriel Mountains in April 2009. According to his attorney, Mr. Costa was on a cross-country trip when he ventured onto the Angeles Crest Highway, a steep and winding road that he had never driven before. Mr. Costa claims he was only following his GPS. His lawyer argues that no signs were posted barring heavy trucks from the dangerous highway.

The truck eventually lost its brakes and careened down 1.5 miles of the highway before crashing into traffic and killing Angel George Posca, 58, and his daughter Angelina Posca of Palmdale, Calif. The truck then ran into a bookstore in the La Canada Flintridge community. Three other people were injured in the crash.

Prosecutors say that shortly after Mr. Costa got on the highway, an off-duty firefighter warned him that the road was too dangerous for an 18-wheeler and suggested he turn around. However, Mr. Costa chose to continue along his route. Prosecutors asserted the defendant’s judgment constitutes gross negligence, especially since he stopped to pour water onto his smoking brakes but did not allow them to cool before continuing.

According to the Associated Press, Mr. Costa’s defense attorney pinned the cause of the fatal crash on “insidious geography” and the absence of runaway truck safety ramps. He added that the truck’s brakes passed a safety inspection in Florida a few weeks prior to the crash. Most significantly, however, jurors heard how 10 previous accidents occurred on that same stretch of road, including one in the exact spot as Mr. Costa’s crash, yet none of the drivers were charged with murder despite numerous injuries and deaths.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Defense lawyer says GPS, lack of warning signs led trucker into deadly mountain crash

According to initial reports, the two women who were killed in the rollover were sitting directly behind the driver. As is standard in the bus industry, nobody in the bus except the driver was wearing a seat belt. Four of the injured passengers remained in the hospital in guarded condition, according to the Ithaca Journal. Three of the hospitalized patients remain in critical condition.

The crash occurred about 4:15 p.m. on Interstate 390 in the town of Avoca, NY, about 50 miles south of Rochester and 90 miles southeast of Niagara Falls. According to the driver, a 58-year-old Rochester man with a clean driving record, the trip was proceeding normally until the tire blew out, causing him to lose control of the bus. Authorities investigating the crash believe the blown-out tire likely triggered the crash, which remains under investigation.

According to the Ithaca Journal, the bus’s tires were only a couple of months old. The bus had a good safety record and had just passed its last safety inspection on June 28, and Niagara County-based Bedore tours has a top “satisfactory” rating by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Additionally, the driver maintained a proper log and neither fatigue nor drugs and alcohol are believed to have played a role.

Coincidentally, the Rochester area has seen its share of fatal tour bus crashes. In 2005, the driver of a bus transporting a women’s hockey team from Ontario, Canada, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the bus into a truck that was parked on the shoulder of Interstate 390 in Geneseo, NY. In 2002, the driver of a tour bus fell asleep on the NY State Thruway in the town of Victor. Five people died in that crash.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Tire blowout eyed as cause of another fatal New York bus crash

According to The Citizen, a newspaper serving Cayuga County, N.Y., David Mosier, 45, was hauling thousands of gallons of milk along an upstate highway when he suddenly lost control of the vehicle, crashed through a guard rail, and rolled into a ditch on the side of the road. The crash caused about 4,000 gallons of milk and 60 gallons of diesel fuel to spill at the site.

ALYNE Trucking Company, the owner/operator of the milk truck involved in the crash, told The Citizen that Mr. Mosier was ejected from the truck as it rolled and was airlifted to a Syracuse hospital for treatment of head injuries, broken ribs, lacerations, and other more minor injuries.

Mr. Mosier, who has driven trucks for more than 20 years, was reportedly able to walk and talk hours later and is expected to make a good recovery from the crash.

Lt. Michael Wellauer of the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Department told The Citizen that he believes a medical problem is the underlying cause of the crash. According to The Citizen, “Wellauer could not specify what sort of medical problem would have caused the crash, but said there was no other apparent reason why Mosier would have gone off the straight road in clear weather.”

ALYNE said it would conduct its own internal investigation of the crash and hired a company to remove the contaminated soil from the crash site to prevent diesel fuel from seeping into the Owasco Lake Inlet.

Police haven’t issued any tickets in connection with the crash.

Although investigators did not raise the possibility that driver fatigue played a role in the crash, certain medical conditions, such as sleep apnea and other sleeping disorders, can cause excessive sleepiness and fatigue.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintains a public outreach to help inform companies and commercial drivers about the importance of driver wellness. For more information, go to   http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/sleep-apnea/Recognizing-508.pdf.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Medical condition eyed as cause of NY milk truck crash

According to the lawsuit, the obstacle forced Ms. Dickerson, who has worked for Amtrak since 2009, to turn around and lead surviving passengers back into the wreckage past the dead bodies of a coworker and other passengers with whom she had been in contact just moments before. Ms. Dickerson claims that by doubling back through the train, she also suffered from “major smoke exposure.”

Not able to escape through the baggage car, she and the surviving passengers had to jump about 15 feet out of a window to the rocky rail bed. Ms. Dickerson was eventually airlifted to a nearby hospital and treated for injuries to her head, eye, legs, hands, and spine.

Ms. Dickerson’s lawsuit is the first involving the Reno crash to name Amtrak as a defendant. Alexandra Curtis of Evanston, Illinois, another Amtrak attendant harmed in the crash, is suing John Davis Trucking Co. of battle Mountain, Nevada, which owned the truck that collided with the train. The John Davis Trucking Company also employed the driver who was killed in the crash, Lawrence Valli, 43, of Winnemucca, Nevada, who for reasons not yet known crashed through the closed crossing gate and hit the train broadside.

Ms. Dickerson’s lawsuit also names the John Davis Trucking Co. as a defendant. The Amtrak Zephyr train was nearing the final stretch of its Chicago-San Francisco route when Mr. Valli’s truck crashed into the side of it.

According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records, the John Davis Trucking Co. has been cited for 17 safety violations, including one for driving with bald tires that warranted taking the vehicle out of service. The company also received citations for unsafe driving, defective and missing springs, and a number of other violations. The company’s trucks had been involved in two other crashes in the last couple of years. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Source:

http://www.mercurynews.com/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Nevada train crash lawsuit blames Amtrak for faulty exit

According to the Portland Press Herald, Amtrak officials have recovered electronic data from the Downeaster’s locomotive. Information pulled from the train’s black-box, similar to the devices used to record airplane data, will help investigators determine the train’s speed and other technical elements in the moments before the crash. There is no word whether the truck involved in the crash also had an electronic data recorder installed.

The Downeaster provides routine train service between Portland, Maine, and Boston and usually runs at speeds of 70 mph though North Berwick’s intersections. The crossing gates are designed to close 20 seconds before a train approaches, whether it’s a high-speed passenger train or slow-moving freight train.

The crash occurred when truck driver Peter Barnum, 35, of Farmington, N.H., failed to stop his truck in time at the crossing, putting his truck in the path of the approaching train. Mr. Barnum was the only fatality in the collision, which erupted in a giant fireball and heavily damaged the Amtrak cars. Skid marks at the intersection reveal that Mr. Barnum slammed on his truck brakes about 200 feet before the intersection.

Mr. Barnum was a driver for Triumvirate Environmental, a Massachusetts-based garbage processor and was hauling about 25 tons of trash to a Maine incinerator on the day of the crash. He had a clean driving record and was familiar with the route, a Triumvirate Environmental spokesman told the Press Herald. Safety data kept by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also shows that the company itself has an above-average safety record.

The Portland Press Herald reports that North Berwick police are leading the probe and were obtaining cell phone and GPS records to determine if Mr. Barnum may have been distracted by using a cell phone at the time of the crash. Amtrak authorities are working to determine whether the railroad’s equipment was properly functioning and that its staff followed procedures.

Springfield Terminal Railway maintains the track and was making sure the crossing gate and warning lights were working. Federal Railroad Administration investigators are also inspecting the safety systems in the train and at the crossing. (Witnesses report that the gate lowered and lights flashed as they always do 20 seconds before the train arrived and hit the truck.) State police dispatched commercial vehicle enforcement specialists and an accident reconstruction team to the site.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Black-box data, cell phone records help investigators probing Amtrak’s Maine crash

Raw video published on the Boston Globe’s website shows an aerial view of the overturned truck and a long stretch of railroad track covered with litter. One of the train’s end cars appears to be charred and firefighters can be seen erecting a ladder onto the end of the train. The video’s title suggests the truck involved was a dump truck, but no other details are known at this time.

North Berwick Town Manager Dwayne Morin told the Boston Globe that the truck collided with the train at the Elm Street / Route 4 crossing. No other details were reported and the crash remains under investigation.

According to the Boston Globe report, Maine State Police dispatched troopers who specialize in commercial vehicle enforcement to the scene of the crash to assist in the investigation.

The Maine crash was the second time in just over 2 weeks that a commercial truck collided with an Amtrak train. On June 24, a truck laden with gravel crashed into the side of the California-bound Amrak Zephyr 70 miles east of Reno, Nevada. The Zephyr crash killed the truck driver, an Amtrak conductor and four passengers. Several other people aboard the train were injured and treated at nearby hospitals.

Amtrak has advised that the Downeaster crash in Maine has disrupted the train service, which is heavily used by commuters and travelers on the northern New England coastline.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Dump truck crashes with Amtrak in Maine, leaving one dead

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Reno Wednesday afternoon, alleges that John Davis Trucking is liable for damages because either it improperly trained or failed to train altogether the driver who slammed his truck into the train despite properly functioning warning gates and flashing lights at the crossing.

Lawrence Valli, 43, was leading a three-truck convoy hauling gravel on U.S. highway 95 when the crash occurred about 70 miles east of Reno.The drivers of the other trucks told investigators that they saw the train approaching and the crossing gate flashing its warning lights, and wondered why Mr. Valli wasn’t stopping.

Mr. Valli slammed on his brakes just short of the crossing gate but it was too late to avoid a collision. His truck left a 320-foot skid mark on the road before crashing into the double-decker Amtrak passenger train, which was traveling at 78 mph at the time. The crash killed Mr. Valli, an Amtrak conductor, and four passengers.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records reveal that John Davis Trucking Company has been cited for 17 safety violations, including one for driving with bald tires that warranted taking the vehicle out of service. The company also received citations for unsafe driving, defective and missing springs, among other violations, and its trucks have been involved in two other crashes since 2009.

According to an Associated Press report, John Davis Trucking hired Mr. Valli despite his own lackluster driving record. “Records show he had been ticketed three times for speeding in California over the last four years, and was arrested in Nevada in 2007 for skipping a court date after letting his vehicle registration expire,” the AP reported.

Amtrak’s lawsuit asserts the trucking company “negligently hired Valli and diligently entrusted the vehicle to Valli, who it knew or should have known was incompetent and/or unqualified to operate the Peterbilt tractor trailer combination.”

John David trucking currently faces another lawsuit over the Nevada crash filed by Alexandra Curtis of Evanston, Ill., an Amtrak attendant who was injured in the collision. Ms. Curtis filed the lawsuit in a Washoe County, Nevada, state court Tuesday seeking damages for injuries she suffered due to negligence on the part of John Davis trucking and its driver.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Amtrak sues trucking company over deadly Nevada crash

The crash occurred around 9 a.m. just north of Fort Lauderdale in the city of Margate. Broward Country Transit bus 1106 was traveling northbound on U.S. 441 when the fuel truck crashed into it near the intersection of Margate Blvd. Authorities at the scene said that the tanker truck was empty when the crash occurred. The driver of the truck was not injured, nor was the bus driver.

The crash is likely to weigh in on the continuing debate over whether commercial, transit, and even school buses should provide seatbelts for passengers, as have a number of other crashes involving passenger buses in recent months.

Dan Booker, division chief for Margate Fire Rescue, told the Sun-Sentinel that the numerous injuries in the crash could be attributed to a lack of seatbelts in passenger buses. In 2009, the last year in which national transportation statistics have been calculated, more than 10,000 people were injured in bus crashes. Of the 221 fatal bus crashes that year, 77 involved transit buses while 89 involved school buses.

Police haven’t yet determined why the driver of the fuel tanker crashed into the transit bus and the crash remains under investigation.

Sources:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/05/2300075/25-injured-after-crash-in-margate.html#ixzz1RGxAtoqa

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-07-05/news/fl-margate-bus-crash-20110705_1_broward-transit-transit-bus-fuel-tanker

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › 25 injured in South Florida passenger bus – fuel tanker collision

According to the Raleigh Police Department’s accident report, the Charles’ bus crashed at 3:47 p.m. while traveling on I-40 westbound. Charles, who worked for Elite Tours, a commercial bus company based in nearby Apex, N.C., had just started his workday and was headed to Durham to pick up a group. The police report says that the tour bus was traveling about 70 mph on the interstate, which has a posted speed limit of 65 mph, when it ran off the right side of the road “for an unknown reason.”

The bus traveled about 400 feet in the grass alongside the interstate before crossing the Chapel Hill on-ramp and striking several trees in a wooded area. The bus then rolled backwards down a hill toward the interstate and came to a stop. Police video of the single-vehicle crash showed tree limbs sticking through the bus’s shattered windshield. There were no passengers on his bus when the crash occurred.

The crash remains under investigation and police are searching for witnesses who might be able to provide more details about the crash. Investigators working to determine the cause of a single-vehicle crash must consider a number of possibilities.

Mechanical problems such as a loss of brakes or blown-out tires can be the result of poor maintenance or vehicle defects. Investigators also look at the driver’s hours-of-service log to figure out whether fatigue may have been a factor in crashes involving commercial trucks and buses. Single-vehicle crashes are also commonly linked to driver distractions (eating and drinking, cell phones and other handheld devices) and medical conditions (heart attack, stroke, seizure).

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Police investigate bus crash that killed former NBA player

According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records, the John Davis Trucking Company Inc. of Battle Mountain, Nev., which operated the tractor trailer that struck two of the Zephyr train’s double-decker cars, has been cited for 17 safety violations, including one for driving with bald tires that warranted taking the vehicle out of service. The company’s trucks have also been involved in two crashes since 2009. The company also received citations for unsafe driving, defective and missing springs, and a number of other violations.

The truck was leading a three-truck convoy on U.S. highway 95 when the crash occurred. The drivers of the other trucks told investigators that they saw the train approaching and the crossing gate flashing its warning lights, and wondered why the leading truck wasn’t stopping. The driver finally slammed on his brakes, leaving a 320-foot skid mark on the northbound highway lane.

According to safety officials, warning signs preceded the crossing where the crash occurred by at least 900 feet. Lights begin to flash and the gate lowers 25 seconds before the train arrives. The truck driver, who was among the six confirmed dead but whose name has not been released, would have been about half a mile from the intersection when the lights began flashing if he were traveling 70 mph, giving him ample time to stop.

Investigators said that the truck’s cab remained lodged in the side of one of the train cars and both had been charred by the fire that broke out on impact. The damage was so severe they doubt they will be able to recover any data from the truck’s black box, so technical details such as how fast the truck was the traveling may be impossible to determine.

Driver fatigue, inattention, and distraction were some of the possible causes investigators were trying to determine. Autopsy and toxicology testing could determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.

The train was en route to Emeryville, Calif., from Chicago when the crash occurred about 70 miles east of Reno. One hundred ninety-six passengers and 14 Amtrak personnel were 0n board. The truck driver and conductor Laurette Lee, 68, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., were among the six confirmed dead.

Forensic anthropologists specializing in identifying charred human remains were called to the scene to help. One Amtrak spokesperson said that all but five passengers have been contacted or accounted for. Investigators were trying to determine whether the missing five had departed the train at some point before the crash or left the scene of the crash afterward.

Sources:
CBS News
Los Angeles Times
CBS Channel 13 Sacramento

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Amtrak crash investigation turns up trucking company’s flawed safety record

A preliminary investigation found that Sayers was driving a soon-to-be-retired articulated bus – a longer style of bus that has an accordion-like fold in the center – southbound on 288. Around 8:30 am, Sayers struck a dump truck also traveling south and lost control of the bus. The vehicle then struck the pillar of a railroad bridge and broke in half. No passengers were on board at the time.

Houston Metro officials, who have taken over the investigation from the Houston Police Department, said that they have collected several conflicting witness reports. Sayers had an accident-free driving record, a good employee record, and possessed a valid commercial driver’s license, He also received the special training he needed to operate an articulated bus.

Metro officials also report that Sayers’ 1999 bus was in good condition. Although it had 315,000 miles on it, most of the city’s buses that age had between 500,000 and 600,000 miles. Houston Metro performs maintenance on the buses every 6,000 miles and inspects each bus every evening. However, because of their age, transit authorities planned to phase the older buses out of operation by the end of the summer and replace them with new vehicles.

Another possible crash factor authorities are investigating is whether Mr. Sayers had a health condition that could have contributed to the crash. Federal law requires that commercial drivers meet some basic health standards before they receive their CDL, but Houston Metro does not require drivers to submit to routine medical checkups.

Sources:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7624645.html

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/Metro-bus-split-in-half-during-fatal-crash-on-Houston-highway-124425184.html

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Houston Metro investigating cause of fatal bus crash

According to the Tribune, Jerome Kluver is regarded as a hero locally for choosing to run his truck off the road rather than collide with the cars in his path, which likely would have spelled certain death for the occupants of the stalled vehicles.

“When you’re looking at a ditch and lake and have a load of asphalt, and you know what your reactions tell you to do, it’s a tough call,” Tim Sakry, the safety manager at Duininck Inc. told the Tribune. “He took the best route out and it wasn’t the best route for him but he wasn’t selfish and hit the ditch.”

The incident started when an 18-year-old woman driving a 1995 Ford Explorer crashed into the back of a Mercury Sable driven by a 51-year-old woman who was waiting to make a left turn onto County Road 29 near Ringo Lake, Minn. The Mercury Sable spun out into the southbound lane of U.S. Highway 71, blocking both lanes of traffic as Mr. Kluver approached.

Authorities said Mr. Kluver’s overturned truck spilled hot asphalt over the roadside and that the Mack Truck was leaking diesel fuel as well. All three drivers were taken to nearby hospitals with non life threatening injuries. Mr. Kluver received a shoulder injury while the 51-year-old woman suffered a broken hip.

Mr. Sakry told the Tribune that Mr. Kluver had more than 3 million miles of truck driving experience and was the right person to be driving the truck in that situation.

“It would have been a double-fatal collision,” Sakry told the Tribune. “(Jerome) did a heroic job with all three walking away from the accident.”

Source:

West Central Tribune

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Minnesota truck driver endangered himself to avoid crash

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, passengers should consider more than price and convenience alone when planning a trip by bus. Safety should be the top priority in selecting a motor carrier. While most commercial motor coach companies have excellent safety records, many have serious and repeat safety violations, and some may even be operating illegally. To help prospective bus passengers sort the safe carriers from the ones with poor records, the FMCSA developed the following checklist.

• Safety Performance History: Check the bus company’s safety performance scores. Consider how they compare to the national averages.

• Safety Rating: FMCSA rates bus companies for safety performance. The top rating is satisfactory. Bus companies with a conditional safety rating may pose a higher risk, and companies with a final unsatisfactory safety rating should not be operating.

• Operating Authority and Insurance Requirements: Bus companies charging a fee to provide interstate transportation must obtain operating authority from the FMCSA. If the company operates a bus that is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, it must have a minimum of $5 million in insurance coverage.

To facilitate checking passenger bus safety information and ratings, the FMCSA offers an easy-to-use online application at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/PCS/Consumers.aspx. Prospective passengers and trip planners first select which type of vehicle they plan to use (motorcoach, mini-bus, school bus, limo, or passenger van), then enter an appropriate zip code or place name to search for carriers and see their safety ratings, or they can enter the name of a specific carrier to view its safety info.

According to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, 34 motor coach crashes nationwide resulted in 46 deaths and injuries to 363 people last year. That figure does not include school buses, limousines, and other forms of commercial passenger transportation.

Source:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/PCS/Consumers.aspx

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Traveling by bus or limo? Choose a safe company with these tools

The Opelika-Auburn news reported that one of the truck drivers was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and later released. No other motorists in the vicinity of the crash were harmed.

Authorities investigating the accident say that one of the commercial trucks was hauling a load of scrap aluminum. The driver of that truck was about to merge on Interstate 85 from the entrance ramp when the load of metal shifted, causing the truck to topple over and its cargo spill across the highway.

Another 18-wheeler hauling a load of paper products collided with the debris. The driver of that truck lost control of the vehicle. According to police responding to the accident, the truck crossed the median, smashed into a guardrail, and clipped an overpass before veering off into the oncoming northbound traffic lanes and landing in a ditch on the side of the highway. Drivers in the northbound and southbound lanes were able to avoid colliding with the trucks.

On Thursday, Alabama Department of Transportation engineers inspected the bridge column that the second truck struck and deemed it safe.

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a number of regulations governing the proper loading and securing of cargo. Unbalanced and improperly secured freight can have disastrous consequences for a truck weighing tons, and it’s often the reason why trucks roll over on curves and corners and jackknife on the road.

According to Drivers Alert, sudden cargo shifts were the specific cause on four percent of all crashes involving commercial trucks.

Sources:

http://www2.wrbl.com/news/2011/jun/08/14/2-semis-involved-wreck-tigertown-exit-i-85-ar-1944303/

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14867212&Call=Email&Format=HTML
http://www.driversalert.com/en/Key_Statistics.aspx

http://www.driversalert.com/en/Key_Statistics.aspx

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Police say shifting load caused Opelika, Alabama truck crash

Worried that he would drown once he hit the water, Mr. Tandy removed his seatbelt. Fortunately, the 16-ton truck stopped short of plunging into the Pacific Ocean and, fueled by adrenaline, the battered commercial truck driver managed to crawl out of the cab and clung to a tree stump. Intense pain started to set in and Mr. Tandy focused on a leaf overhead, wondering what might happen next.

The trucker’s colleagues had been driving behind him when his truck rolled off the fittingly named Tumbledown Bay Road – a winding road carved into the crest of a mountain. Mr. Tandy’s spirits lifted when he heard his fellow truck drivers talking about the accident on his truck radio and he redoubled his efforts to stay conscious until help arrived.

Mr. Tandy was eventually airlifted to a hospital, where doctors set about repairing his eight broken ribs, fractured hips, and split pelvis. He also tore all the muscles in his lower back, had a number of dislocated vertebrae that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and a received a gash on his face that required 40 stitches. Doctors who treated Mr. Tandy told him he was unlikely to walk again.

Such a grim diagnosis made it all the more astonishing to everyone, including Mr. Tandy, when he slowly started regaining feeling in his legs. After just five weeks of hospital rehabilitation, Mr. Tandy made a complete recovery.

Mr. Tandy, a British expatriate, told the U.K.’s Daily Mail that during the accident his whole life flashed before him as it does in the movies. “I don’t consider myself special in any way but it takes something like this to give you a new outlook on life,” he told the Daily Mail.

Now part of that new outlook involves a chance to represent Britain in The World’s Toughest Trucker, a television series that “will see truckers taking on some of the world’s hardest routes in a competition of skill, pace and mental strength,” according to the Daily Mail.

Mr. Tandy has reached the second heat of the new series’ challenge and hopes that surviving and recovering from such a harrowing and devastating accident will give him a valuable edge over his competitor truckers, who hail from several different nations and drive some of the most dangerous routes on the planet.

Source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393055/Truck-luck-Lorry-driver-plunges-80ft-mountain–survives.html

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NZ truck accident survivor hopes to earn toughest-trucker title

According to the Mohave Daily News, driver Jose Alcides Rios of Houston, Texas, was taken to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released following the crash that totaled his flatbed trailer and crushed his cab. Police responding to the scene don’t know for certain what caused Mr. Rios’ truck to overturn, but the crash remains under investigation.

“The road turned and he didn’t,” Bullhead City police officer John Cartlidge told the Mohave Daily News. Officer Cartlidge said that Mr. Rios was approaching the intersection of McCormick Boulevard near Davis Camp when he lost control of the vehicle. The crash left the trailer hanging off an embankment on the edge of the road.

Interestingly, the Mohave Daily News reports that the crash “was in the same general area as several others involving tractor-trailer rigs in recent years. Trucks hauling beer and bottle water have crashed in almost the exact same location.”

As officer Cartlidge put it to the Mohave Daily News, “We’ve had all sorts of fun on this stretch of road.”

The crash prompted one local Bullhead City Council member to denounce a plan that would reroute more commercial truck activity through Bullhead City.

“As this accident proves, anyone can misjudge the steepness of the mountain grades coming into Bullhead City even though veteran truck drivers used this route for nearly a decade,” Council Member Sam Medrano said in a written statement, expressing concerns that people could be seriously hurt or killed if heavy commercial trucks are routed through the more populated sections of Bullhead City.

The westbound section of the highway was closed for four hours as crews worked to clear the truck and debris from the road. A Hazmat unit was also dispatched to the scene when the truck began leaking fuel.

Source:

http://www.mohavedailynews.com/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck loaded with watermelons crashes on Arizona desert highway

The bus that sparked this latest crackdown was traveling northbound on I-95 in Virginia early Tuesday morning when it crashed. The bus, owned and operated by Sky Express, had departed from Greensboro, N.C., and was bound for New York City’s Chinatown in when it hit an embankment and flipped over about 30 miles north of Richmond. Authorities believe the driver, Kin Yiu Cheung, dozed off behind the wheel. He was charged with reckless driving and later released on a $3,000 bond.

Tragically, Sky Express was on the verge of being shut down by federal regulators over several serious safety violations and an overall safety rating that classified it as performing worse than the majority of other carriers. According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records, Sky Express is rated 62.9 percent worse in the unsafe driving category than commercial carriers with a similar number of inspections; 86.2 percent worse in driver fatigue violations; and 99.7 percent worse in driver fitness. The company racked up 24 violations in driver-fitness category during the last 2 years, including 14 for having non-English speaking drivers behind the wheel and 1 for a driver who did not hold a commercial driver’s license. Sky Express bus drivers have been cited for unsafe driving 17 times since 2009, mostly for speeding.

The Transportation Department gave Sky Express and “unsatisfactory rating” after it failed it a compliance review April 12 and proposed shutting the company down. The company was due to be closed permanently on Saturday, but it filed an appeal which bought it an additional 10 days to defend its safety record. Regulators agreed to extend the review period from May 28 to Tuesday, June 7, during which it found a number of additional drug, alcohol, and hours of service violations within the company.

The delay proved to be deadly, prompting Secretary LaHood to end the appeals process and close Sky Express immediately.

“There is no excuse for delay when a bus operator should be put out of service for safety’s sake,” LaHood said. “On my watch, there will never be another extension granted to a carrier we believe is unsafe.”

American Bus Association president and CEO Peter Pantuso indicated that safety inspections of motor coach companies and drivers were too few and the enforcement of safety regulations too weak.

“We’re glad to see that they were put out of service,” Mr. Pantuso told the New York Times. “What we would really like to see is, if this company has the safety record we’re looking at, companies like this should be completely shut down.”

“They had this long history of violations,” Mr. Pantuso told ABC News. “Why weren’t they put out of service?”

Sources:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=13726053

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/06/01/article/bus_company_on_verge_of_shutdown

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Deadly Virginia bus crash prompts major change in federal enforcement

According to Edmonton Police Sgt. Barry Maron, the most common problems found include brakes that are out of adjustment and loads that have been improperly secured. Although they may seem minor, such problems can have disastrous consequences on the road. Deficient brakes and brake failure can cause commercial trucks weighing 80,000 pounds or more to crash into other traffic. Poorly secured cargo that suddenly shifts in transit can cause the driver to lose control of the truck, resulting in a rollover or collision.

Despite the large number of trucks pulled off the road in Edmonton, Sgt. Maron said that the experienced inspectors can usually tell which trucks are going to have problems and that checking every commercial truck on the road would produce a significantly higher pass rate.

“We want to make sure they’re keeping their trucks up to standard,” said Sgt. Maron told Global Edmonton. “The majority of truck drivers do, most of the trucks are kept in good shape.”

As for the trucks and drivers with safety violations, inspectors report deficiencies to province officials who determine whether to put them on the carriers profile, in much the same way the U.S. Transportation Department’s CSA program works. “The (drivers) get demerits for every violation they have and at a certain point the province audits the company to see if they’re working properly,” Sgt. Maron told Global Edmonton. Fines range from $115 to several thousand dollars.

According to NAFTA rules, U.S., Canadian, and Mexican carriers are governed by the same safety standards when operating in the U.S.

Source:

http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/Cops+crack+down+commercial+vehicles/4839493/story.html

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Edmonton, Alberta police crack down on unsafe trucks and drivers

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there is more than just price and convenience to consider when planning a voyage by bus. Some motor coach companies have poor safety records. Many may even be operating illegally. Many more have outstanding safety records, and safety should be the top priority in selecting a motor carrier, the FMCSA says.

Always choose a bus company that complies with federal (FMCSA) rules. The following checklist was created by the FMCSA to help prospective passengers separate the good carriers from the bad ones:

• Safety Performance History: Check the bus company’s safety performance scores. Consider how they compare to the national averages.

• Safety Rating: FMCSA rates bus companies for safety performance. The top rating is satisfactory. Bus companies with a conditional safety rating may pose a higher risk, and companies with a final unsatisfactory safety rating should not be operating.

• Operating Authority and Insurance Requirements: Bus companies charging a fee to provide interstate transportation must obtain operating authority from the FMCSA. If the company operates a bus that is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, it must have a minimum of $5 million in insurance coverage.

To facilitate checking passenger bus safety information and ratings, the FMCSA offers an easy-to-use online application at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/PCS/Consumers.aspx. Prospective passengers and trip planners first select which type of vehicle they plan to use (motorcoach, mini-bus, school bus, limo, or passenger van), then enter an appropriate zip code or place name to search for carriers and see their safety ratings, or they can enter the name of a specific carrier to view its safety info.

According to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, 34 motor coach crashes nationwide resulted in 46 deaths and injuries to 363 people last year. That figure does not include school buses, limousines, and other forms of commercial passenger transportation.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Traveling by bus or limo? Choose a safe company with these tools

Kazimierz Karasek, 59, the self-employed owner / operator of a semi truck, was hauling a load of cement when he came to a railroad crossing in Mount Prospect. According to witnesses, Mr. Karasek ignored the illuminated no-turn sign and warning lights at the crossing rather than wait, and drove around the closed gates. The cab of his truck then collided with a Metra Union Pacific Northwest train traveling about 50 mph around 8:40 a.m. The crash sheared the trailer of Mr. Karasek’s truck from the cab, which exploded on impact and plunged the second train car into a smoky fireball.

Passengers were able to escape from the doors and windows of the charred train car. The crash injured about three dozen passengers, most of whom were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The only fatality was Mr. Karasek, who died at the scene of the crash.

According to the Chicago Tribune, most of Mr. Karasek’s traffic citations were issued in Cook County for violations involving speeding, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, and hauling overweight loads. He also racked up additional citations in Lake and DuPage counties, including the DUI, which was issued in Elmhurst.

As botched as Mr. Karasek’s driving record was, his commercial driver’s license was never affected. As Terry Montalbano, the Illinois Secretary of State’s commercial license administrator explained to the Chicago Tribune, truck drivers can have their commercial licenses “disqualified” in a couple of ways: if their regular driver’s license is suspended or revoked, or if they accrue two or more serious traffic violations in a commercial vehicle within three years. Neither of these scenarios applied to Mr. Karasek.

Driving the wrong way and disregarding a traffic signal, for instance, are not considered serious violations. Other violations may not have led to convictions or supervision, Montalbano said. As for the DUI charge, Mr. Karasek received an order of supervision for it, but his regular driver’s license wouldn’t have been suspended.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Trucker blamed for fiery Chicago train crash had 50-plus traffic citations

Nearly 2,000 roadside inspections in recent days pulled drivers of tour buses, New York City MTA buses, taxi cabs, and other commercial vehicles off the road. The drivers arrested were charged with felonies for holding commercial licenses while owning other licenses suspended under different names. Authorities discovered many of the bum licenses by employing facial recognition technology, which allowed them to cross-reference photos on current and suspended licenses.

“With New York’s use of facial recognition technology, drivers who obtain multiple licenses under different names now have no place to hide,” Governor Cuomo said Monday. “We will not tolerate dangerous buses and drivers or fraud in obtaining a license.”

The latest sting brings the number of buses removed from the road to nearly 250. Additionally, more than 200 drivers have been sidelined, many likely permanently, and hundreds of tickets for safety violations have been issued.

“Many of the individuals arrested (Monday) obtained multiple driver licenses in order to collect benefits, and even worse, to conceal violent criminal histories,” New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Drivers accused of using aliases to obtain multiple commercial licenses have been charged with using false instruments for filing and for falsifying business records.

Such is the case with the driver of the bus that crashed in the Bronx in March. Federal and state probes of Ophadell Williams discovered he used aliases to avoid losing his license after he was involved in other driving incidents. Mr. Williams also served two years in prison for a 1990 stabbing and was jailed for three years in 1998 on a grand larceny conviction.

Likewise, authorities investigating the death of a pedestrian who was struck by a bus in New York City Saturday learned that the driver has been cited for several traffic violations since 1997, including three car crashes, speeding, and two citations for driving with a suspended license.

According to the Associated Press, many of the sidelined drivers had numerous traffic tickets that they ignored, while others were wanted under felony warrants or sought for deportation.

Additional source:

CBS News

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Dozens of commercial drivers arrested, hundreds ticketed in NY sting operations

The tour bus was carrying about 40 tourists on a sightseeing excursion back to their hotels in Newark, New Jersey, when the incident occurred just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. Authorities said that the bus was turning left onto Ninth Ave. from 47th Street when the rear of vehicle struck Timothy White, 29, dragging him for several yards before a witness was able to flag the bus down.

Mr. White, who had been visiting a cousin in the city, had been “caught in the rear wheels of the bus,” according to a New York Times report. Emergency workers found him unresponsive at the scene and rushed him to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the bus, Steve Drappel, 57, of West Palm Beach, Florida, drove for TraveLynx, a bus company based in Cocoa, Florida. Another bus tour company L&L Travel of New York City, had hired Mr. Drappel and TraveLynx to run a tour of New York City for some tourists staying in hotels near the Newark airport.

L&L regularly hires TraveLynx buses and drivers for its tours because its drivers were often available in New York after completing longer interstate drives.

NYPD said Mr. Drappel registered a 0.14 on breath test, indicating he was above the legal limit for drunk driving. He was also found in possession of a 1.75 liter bottle of vodka, which he kept on the bus with him. The New York Post reported that police also found Mr. Drappel with a “silver travel mug nearly emptied of vodka.”

TraveLynx employs 67 drivers and operates 62 buses and vans. According to the New York Times, the company has been involved in one other fatal crash in the last two years. That crash occurred in Florida, according to Federal Transportation records.

The New York Post, however, reports that Mr. Drappel’s driving record made him a questionable candidate to be driving bus loads of people around. He has been cited for several traffic violations since 1997, including three car crashes, speeding, and two citations for driving with a suspended license.”

Ironically, Mr. Drappel’s Facebook profile shows that he is a fan of the “I HATE PEOPLE WHO CAN’T DRIVE FOR S**T” page.

State and federal regulators have been keeping motor coach companies in the New York City metropolitan region under close scrutiny since the March crash that killed 15 bus passengers returning to Chinatown from a Connecticut casino. Subsequent road checks and ramped-up safety inspections throughout the region resulted in a number of buses and drivers being removed from the road.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NYC police arrest tour bus driver for pedestrian’s death

Southern LNG, which operates a massive LNG import terminal 5 miles downstream from Savannah, currently receives liquid methane by ship and pipes it out as a gas. The company is seeking approval to ship the gas in liquid form by truck through populated areas, including practically through the heart of Savannah.

According to the Savannah Morning News, if the federal government approves the company’s petition, as many as 58 tanker truckloads of LNG would be hauled through busy parts of the city daily, passing two major hospitals, several schools, businesses, and residential neighborhoods.

But attorneys representing Citizens for Clean Air and Water say that there are many scenarios in which a tanker spill or explosion would not be covered by insurance, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for damages. And, in the event of such a catastrophe, the damages would likely be profound.

“LNG can’t burn as a liquid, but if a tanker were breached the resulting vapor cloud could burn hot enough to blister exposed skin more than 700 feet away,” the Savannah Morning News reports.

Additionally, “the U.S. Department of Transportation recommends an evacuation zone of up to a mile around an LNG tanker spill.”

That concerns Chatham County’s Emergency Management Director Clayton Scott, who sounded his concerns at a public forum on the matter, saying that in such a heavily populated area, a massive evacuation isn’t possible within the appropriate time frame. Just as dangerous, he said, was Southern LNG’s lack of resources in the event of a disaster.

“You can’t insure yourself and you can’t protect yourself,” he told company representatives at the forum.

According to the Savannah Morning News, all hazmat trucks must carry a $5-million insurance policy, but that coverage won’t extend to all accidents. Negligence of the driver resulting in a crash would be covered, but damages resulting from a drunk driver, for example, would not be. Property damage might be covered under insurance held by homeowners and businesses, but those policies typically don’t cover damages caused by vehicular accidents, and even if they do they won’t pay for harm and losses outside of property damage.

Attorneys against the petition said the only true protection LNG could afford was for it to keep its hazmat trucks off the city’s roads.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Savannah controversy: who would pay for hazmat trucking disaster?

Although Mr. Tucker, a 57-year-old resident of Barnesville, Minnesota, told Inforum he would likely lose his commercial driver’s license because of the crash, Monday’s incident was really just the feather in the cap of a man whose health and driving record were a preamble for disaster.

Mr. Tucker told Inforum he has Type 2 diabetes and also received a head injury a number of years ago after being struck in the head with a two-by-four while working in a barn. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but Mr. Tucker said the last thing he remembered was trying to radio a co-worker for directions. Then, according to Inforum, “everything went black.”

The truck rolled through an intersection, slammed into the back of a car, which spun out and struck two other cars, and then crashed into the commercial storage building, causing an estimated $200,000 in damage. The next thing Mr. Tucker remembered was waking up in the shattered ruins of the storage unit.

Prior to Monday’s crash, Mr. Tucker was also involved in a hit-and-run crash last year in Iowa. In that incident, Mr. Tucker slammed into the back of a car in a construction zone where traffic was restricted to one lane. According to Inforum, “the semitrailer sustained ‘disabling damage’ but fled the scene, later stopping at an off-ramp, where authorities located Tucker.”

Mr. Tucker alleges that the car he struck swooped in front of him too quickly and then stood on the brakes, leaving him almost no time to stop. Nevertheless, authorities cited and ultimately fined him for leaving the scene of an accident, following too closely, and driving log violations.

According to Inforum, Mr. Tucker also caused two accidents in Missouri. In November 2007, he plead guilty and was fined in Clay County for “operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner.” Mr. Tucker told authorities he was choking on phlegm, which caused him to careen off a Missouri interstate, down an embankment, and cross an access road and field before entering the interstate again. Authorities said the probable cause of that incident as inattention and physical impairment.

The other accident occurred in September 2009 on a Kansas City area interstate when Mr. Tucker merged onto another vehicle. Mr. Tucker told authorities that the woman in the car he hit was “busy yapping on the phone” and wouldn’t move over.

But that’s not all. According to Inforum, Tucker was also fined $105 in Minnesota for an overweight violation in one county and cited for speeding 64 mph in a 55-mph zone in another county. In North Dakota, he was cited for speeding 45 mph in a 35-mph zone in North Dakota.

In Iowa, Mr. Tucker was fined in 2007 for driving with a leaky brake hose. In 2009, he was fined for an Hours-of-Service (HoS) violation.

Most surprising of all is the fact that Mr. Tucker not only retained his commercial driver’s license, he also found employment as a truck driver despite this record. His employer, JD Kraemer Enterprises of Fargo, told Inforum that the company conducted a background check on Mr. Tucker before hiring him nearly a year ago but hired him anyway. “He’s been a good employee, good worker, been on time, everybody likes him,” the company owner told Inforum.

“I thank the Lord that nobody was injured and nobody was killed.”

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Commercial truck driver calls it quits after latest crash

According to a report by Truckinginfo, one of the twisters hit a truck stop in Glade Spring, Virginia, tossing more than 300 tractor trailers around and continuing on to kill 13 people in nearby homes. The destruction led to a massive fuel spill that covered a large area around the leveled truck stop and overturned tractor trailers, some of which were thrown onto the highway.

So far the tornadoes appear to have spared major trucking companies in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham from such catastrophic damage. Many commercial truck operations, Truckinginfo reports, were just feet away from being annihilated by the twisters.

Tom Neely, president of Ross Neely Truck Lines in Birmingham, told Truckinginfo that he’s never seen anything like the damage wrought by the tornado just half a block from his company. While his terminal received some roof damage, Neely said that his biggest challenge right now is the downed phone lines and lack of internet. He told Truckinginfo that he had to dispatch trucks to areas in search of internet access in order to operate normally.

The AAA Cooper terminal in Birmingham also escaped heavy damage, though the storm showered the carrier’s facility with debris. The tornado blew past Davis Hauling in Tuscaloosa within an eighth of a mile and WTI Transport’s Tuscaloosa facility, but those companies also received little damage.

Although these carriers received no direct hit from the tornado, damage may come in other forms. One of WTI’s large shippers, Tamco Roofing in Birmingham, was “totally obliterated” one source told Truckinginfo. WTI’s vice-president of operations, Darren Lee, told Truckinginfo that he expects some economic losses as a result of the destruction of client companies.

Businesses that were not affected by the storm directly will continue to experience interruptions for some time during the cleanup and recovery process as utilities and infrastructure are restored and employees who lost their homes and loved ones struggle to cope with their losses.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Southern tornadoes hamper operations for some trucking businesses

Authorities said that the crash occurred about 8:45 a.m. at an intersection in Norcross, Georgia, a city of about 11,000 people in the Metropolitan Atlanta area. A bus from Lilburn Middle School carrying 38 students drove into the back of a special needs bus carrying two children to Camp Creek Elementary School at the intersection. The Camp Creek bus was stopped while a third bus in front of it, which was not struck, loaded children.

Ten students from the Lilburn bus complained of neck and back pain and other injuries and were treated on the scene before being transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. Gwinnett Schools Public Schools officials grounded the drivers of both buses as a matter of district transportation protocol until investigators determined they were fit to drive.

Another bus picked up the uninjured students from the scene so they could make it to the standardized testing on time. The injured students will be permitted to take the test at a later date, a Gwinnett County School official told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Investigators announced that the driver of the Lilburn Middle School bus, whose name was not released, was found to be at fault in the collision because he or she was following the Camp Creek Elementary bus too closely.

The crash re-ignited a debate about the need for safety belts in school buses that started last October after a child in neighboring Douglas County was killed while riding the bus. The National Coalition for School Bus Safety, one of the nation’s strongest advocates for seatbelts on school buses, says that the basic design of the school bus has not changed since 1977.

The incident also drew attention to the qualifications of bus drivers themselves. School bus drivers typically must receive more testing in safety regulations, laws, and behind-the-wheel training than any other professional drivers. Considering these strict standards, why would the Lilburn bus driver dangerously tail another school bus on a busy school morning?

Each year, nearly half a million school buses transport more than 23.5 million children to school. Those 450,000-plus school buses travel about 4.3 billion miles annually. Forty people die each year in school-bus related accidents.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Atlanta-area school bus crash ignites debate about seat belts and driver safety

The nine most common distractions researchers observed in conjunction with a risky driving maneuver were:

• Object in Hand (44.5%)
• Talking on a Handheld Mobile Phone (13.4%)
• Drinking a beverage (12.7%)
• Eating (10.1%)
• Smoking (9.9%)
• Operating a Handheld Device (9.1%)
• Talking / Listening on hands-free mobile phone (5.2%)
• Consulting manifest, map, or Navigation (1.0%)
• Grooming / Personal Hygiene (0.6%)

The study also found that of the 34,466 drivers, just 5 percent were the most distracted behind the wheel and more likely to engage in dangerous driving behaviors. Those 5 percent of drivers were distracted 67 percent of the time that risky driving maneuvers were observed – a rate of almost six times more than the other 95 percent of the drivers.

SmartDrive president Jason Palmer told Fleet Owner that study researchers “recorded one driver whose texting and constant cell phone use while driving led to a high incident of hard braking and hard turning maneuvers.” Yet the same driver “also maintained the best on-time and delivery statistics within his fleet.”

“The important take-away from this report,” Mr. Palmer added, “is that throughout 2010, we continued to see a strong connection between these driving distractions and fundamental driving errors that can lead to collisions. Early identification of this 5 percent group is extremely important because the sooner they know who they are, the sooner fleets can begin training to change risky-driving behaviors in this higher-risk group.”

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Study identifies riskiest driving behaviors for commercial truckers

The study’s authors analyzed data on nearly 600,000 U.S. truck drivers collected between 2007 and 2009 and identified a number of specific behaviors and convictions that collectively forecast a driver’s risk of being involved in a future crash by more than 50 percent. Although it’s not surprising that drivers with poor driving records are more likely to be involved in future crashes than drivers with clean records, the individual violations and their ties to future crash probability are surprising.

A “failure to use / improper signal” was the leading predictor of a future crash. Drivers with this violation on record are 96 percent more likely to be involved in a crash. Ten additional violations predicted an increase crash risk of 56 to 84 percent, while two registered between 36 to 40 percent. According to the ATRI study, a past crash and an improper passing violation both indicated an 88-percent increase in crash risk. An improper turn conviction increases the odds of a future crash 84 percent. An improper of erratic lane change conviction was linked to a crash-risk increase of 80 percent.

Other violations tied to a significantly increases crash risk are: An improper lane / location conviction (68 percent); failure to obey traffic sign (68percent); speeding more than 15 mph over the speed limit (67 percent); any conviction (65 percent); and reckless / careless / inattentive / negligent driving (64 percent).

Seven additional violations had significant crash associations, with five ranging from 38 percent and 45 percent, and two ranking between 18 percent and 21 percent.

“By becoming aware of problem behaviors, carriers and enforcement agencies are able to address those issues prior to them leading to serious consequences,” the ATRI report states. “The converse is also true, however, as lower priority behaviors, if ignored, may begin to play an increasing role in crash involvement.”

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Study links commercial truckers past convictions to future-crash probability

But while the New York crackdowns removed many unsafe commercial vehicles and drivers off the road, they are unlikely to do any good in the future unless authorities maintain that beefed-up level of scrutiny. Safety regulation enforcement is so lax in most parts of the country that commercial bus companies and their drivers pulled out of service because of their safety record have little difficulty getting back on the road under a different alias. In fact, that is usually what they do. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that when unsafe companies are ordered to close, many reopen under a new name with the same people in charge.

Ophadell Williams, the driver of the bus that crashed in the Bronx, used an alias twice when stopped by authorities in order to protect his driving record, his commercial driver’s license, and his job. Mr. Williams also served prison and jail time in his younger years, leading state officials, including the governor of New York, to question his qualifications in possessing a commercial driver’s license and driving buses full of passengers.

A system riddled with insufficient safety measures and lax enforcement makes it possible for dangerous bus companies to stay on the road. Just two days after the fatal Bronx crash, another bus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike killed two people and injured many more. Days after that, a bus loaded with tourists overturned on a New Hampshire interstate, injuring 23 passengers.

Super Luxury Tours, the owner of the bus that crashed in New Jersey, operated without having had a full review since 2009, even though the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) repeatedly cited it for drivers who sped and broke other traffic laws, were unfit to drive because they could not speak English, or did not have the medical documentation to prove they were fit to drive a commercial bus. After the bus crash in New Jersey, the FMCSA shut the company down.

But Super Luxury Tours is one of many bus companies operating with critical safety violations in New York and nationwide. New York’s Journal News reports that of 386 motor-coach carriers operating in New York, about 15 percent have received an alert in one of five basic categories set by the FMCSA: fatigued driving, driver fitness, vehicle maintenance, unsafe driving, and controlled substances/alcohol. The Journal News also reported that 44 New York bus companies, including Super Luxury Tours, received satisfactory ratings despite having an FMCSA safety alert on them.

“It’s life-threatening when you’re seeing this tremendous growth in the number of people that are relying on and using motor coaches and yet they’re not afforded the most basic safety protections that they’re afforded when they get into their car,” Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told the Journal News.

Of the 75 alerts FMCSA issued to New York companies, most (8 percent) were for fatigued driving, one of the possible causes being investigated in the Bronx bus crash.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › NY bus crashes expose flaws in commercial bus safety enforcement

Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Jon Kalahar said the collision occurred around 7:20 a.m., just after the bus had stopped at a stop sign on Mississippi Highway 450 and U.S. Highway 61 about three and a half miles south of the town of Shaw. As the bus proceeded to turn onto 61, it was struck by an oncoming tractor trailer.

The driver of the truck told authorities he saw the bus at the last second and slammed on the brakes, but it was too late to avoid a collision. Police investigating the crash said that the foggy weather conditions and low visibility may have been a contributing factor. The crash caused both vehicles to roll over onto their sides.

According to Shaw School District Superintendent Cederick Ellis, four students were airlifted to regional hospitals and at least four others were carried by ambulance. One of the students remains in critical condition. The driver of the bus suffered minor injuries and was treated and released. The bus was transporting students from kindergarten through high school.

The girl who died in the crash was identified as Taliyah McRoy, a fifth grader at McEvans School. Mr. Ellis said that he had been talking with the girl about some forthcoming tests and that she was “counting down the days.” He said her death dealt her school and community a horrible blow.

“It is a very small community, a very tight community. When something happens, especially a tragedy like this, it really affects the entire community,” Ellis said.

Though fog may have played a role, police said that the crash remains under investigation.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Tractor trailer and school bus collide, killing one student and injuring several others

The bus that crashed in Pennsylvania was operated by Super Luxury Tours of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and was traveling south from New York City’s Chinatown to Philadelphia. Around 9 p.m., as the bus was passing through East Brunswick, NJ, it swerved into the highway median, struck part of an overpass, and sped off the road where it crashed into an embankment. The force of the crash threw the bus driver through the windshield. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Forty of the 44 passengers aboard were taken to area hospitals with injuries, one of whom died shortly afterward. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The bus that crashed in New Hampshire was carrying about two dozen Korean tourists from Quebec to Boston when it lost control in Littleton, near the Vermont border. Authorities reported that a light snow had been falling and that there was intermittent fog in the area when the bus driver lost control of the vehicle. The bus rolled over onto its side and slid some distance before coming to a stop. All but one of the passengers were injured in the crash, five of them seriously. The bus is owned and operated by Big Boy Coach of Flushing, NY. Although the crash remains under investigation, authorities said they have not ruled out criminal charges against the bus’s driver.

These additional crashes have not received as much press coverage as the deadly New York crash, but they did not escape the attention of federal regulators, who launched a sweeping investigation of the discount bus industry that is so popular in Northeastern cities. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement that these investigations, led by the National Transportation Safety Board, could potentially reshape the bus industry for hundreds of thousands of riders.

The investigation will encompass the buses, drivers, routes, and schedules and is expected to last about six months. Mr. Schumer said that the NTSB will develop a series of recommendations to improve motorcoach safety that will be implemented through changes in current regulations or new legislation.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Three bus crashes prompt NTSB to investigate commercial bus industry

Two of the crash survivors, Yuke Chue Lo, 74, and Erold Jean Marie, 53, have filed lawsuits against Mr. Williams and World Wide Tours. Both plaintiffs, who were critically injured on the bus, say Mr. Williams was falling asleep at the wheel and had swayed out of his lane and onto the rumble strips three times in 30 minutes before he crashed.

Ms. Lo, who seeks $20 million in damages, suffered a fractured skull and traumatic brain injuries in the crash and will have to undergo extensive rehabilitation. Mr. Jean Marie, who crawled out of the wreckage with injuries to his spine and shoulder, is suing for $200 million in damages. His lawyer described the crash, saying, “People were decapitated. You couldn’t make a horror film that was nearly this bad.” Both plaintiffs allege World Wide Tours was negligent in allowing Mr. Williams to drive the bus.

Blood and breath tests confirmed that Mr. Williams was sober at the time of the crash. Investigators are still trying to determine how much rest he got after he drove the bus from New York City late Friday night and returned early Saturday morning. Prompted by the deadly crash, transportation officials conducted a sting operation targeting discount bus tours, which resulted in 14 motor coaches being pulled off the road for major safety violations. The most frequently cited violation involved failure to record driving hours as required by law.

Authorities suspended Mr. Williams’ commercial driver’s license upon discovering that he had given police aliases twice to avoid being ticketed and risking his license. Authorities confirmed he also served two years in prison for a 1990 stabbing and was jailed for three years in 1998 on a grand larceny conviction. He has not been charged in the bus crash.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Two Bronx bus crash survivors sue, driver said to be speeding excessively

The tanker truck owned by AR Sandri, Inc. of Greenfield, Mass, was traveling eastbound on Alternate Route 7 when the drivers of two vehicles, apparently engaged in an altercation and gesturing to each other, passed the truck in the passing lane. The driver of the first car sped past the tractor trailer and entered the right lane in front of the truck, then stepped on the brakes as traffic in front of him slowed.

At this time, the other car attempted to squeeze into the right lane between the truck and the first car as the altercations continued. The tractor trailer then struck the bumper of the second car, causing it to spin out on the highway in front of the truck. To avoid a worse collision, the truck’s driver, Lynn Sbrega of Troy, New York, veered off the highway and onto the embankment. Sbrega was able to prevent the truck from rolling and came to a controlled stop with some of the trucks wheels protruding more than a foot off the ground. Amazingly, nobody was injured in the crash.

A routine inspection of the truck following the accident found the vehicle to be free of mechanical problems. The driver of the car that hit the truck was merely ticketed for unsafely changing lanes.

Coincidentally, the crash occurred when a special law enforcement program was taking place nearby called an “Aggressive and Distracted Driving Enforcement Detail.”

In New York State, 87 percent of all crashes involving a truck in 2009 also involved another vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian. In 85 percent of those crashes, the “other vehicle” was listed as the cause of the crash.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Unsafe motorist sends gas tanker careening off New York highway

New York authorities began setting up checkpoints on roads throughout the state last weekend. Safety violations were rampant in the Manhattan area, where 16 out of 26 buses were put out of service for vehicle or driver violations or both. Outside of the city, the violations were relatively lower but still unacceptably high, with nearly 20 percent of buses being taken out of service.

The major violation inspectors found involved the log books that drivers must by law keep to record their periods of driving and rest. While regulators take hours-of-service (HOS) rules seriously, many bus drivers enter false information in the record books and some fail to keep the required logs at all. New York authorities said the logbook Mr. Williams kept appeared to be incomplete. Problems with the driver’s commercial license or medical history are some of the other violations for which regulators pulled drivers from the road.

Safety violations found with the buses themselves mostly included maintenance issues, such as problems with lights, emergency exits, suspension, tires, and windshield wipers. Mechanical issues like these may seem minor, but have the potential to be extremely deadly on a bus full of people.

“As proven by these enhanced checkpoints, some of these drivers had no business being behind the wheel and some of these buses had no business being on the road,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “This is a warning to everyone involved to abide by the law.”

Federal law requires every commercial passenger bus to be inspected once every year. New York state laws are tougher, requiring buses to be checked out twice per year. Approximately 71,000 buses are registered in New York.

Two state officials familiar with the state investigation told The Associated Press last week that Williams appeared to have an incomplete log book. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation continues.

In the year’s time preceding the March 12 bus crash, 34 motor coaches crashed nationwide, killing 46 people and injuring 363, according to the Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › New York safety crackdown takes scores of buses and drivers off the road

Mr. Williams drove a regular circuit between New York’s Chinatown and the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, for World Wide Tours. His bus was returning from the casino and was nearly at its destination when it crashed early Saturday morning.

Authorities investigating the crash have discovered Mr. Williams used aliases to avoid losing his license after he was involved in other driving incidents. Williams’ driving privileges were suspended in 1995 under the name Eric Williams, the false name he gave to police in two different stops while telling them he did not have his license with him.

Speaking with NBC, Mr. Williams’ attorney said that the 40-year-old driver “never misled anybody. He fully believed he had a right to drive.”

“It appears that the authorities are not intent in fact-finding and are more interested in assigning blame,” another lawyer defending Williams said.

Prompted by the grisly crash, New York State Police and state Transportation Department authorities conducted roadside inspections of tour buses. They pulled 10 drivers off the road during the surprise inspections, mostly for violations involving their log book records. Two of the drivers didn’t even possess log books to record their driving and rest periods, as required by law.

“As proven by these enhanced checkpoints, some of these drivers had no business being behind the wheel and some of these buses had no business being on the road,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “This is a warning to everyone involved to abide by the law.”

World Wide Tours is one of several commercial bus companies that offers frequent, discounted bus trips between New York City and the Mohegan Sun. The trips are popular with New York’s working class and immigrants who hope to supplement their working wages with payouts from the slots and other casino games.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Authorities suspend bus driver’s license after deadly bus crash

Reports say that a woman was traveling on FM726 just east of Gilmer, Texas, with three children she was babysitting when the sun apparently blinded her, causing her car to swerve into the 18-wheeler’s path and clip its front tire. The truck then jackknifed and the vehicles spun out of control. Both the car and truck crashed and the car burst into flames.

Another commercial driver who saw the accident stopped to help. “The car was on fire and as a commercial vehicle we carry fire extinguishers and flares in the truck and we ran and grabbed our fire extinguishers out of the truck and extinguished the fire on the car,” the driver, identified as Perry Stark, said.

Witnesses were able to put out the fire with extinguishers from the truck and remove the children from the car to safety, but both drivers remained trapped inside their vehicles.

Witnesses tried to free the woman from the wreckage with the Jaws of Life but couldn’t, and the driver of the truck was pinned inside his vehicle for nearly three hours. Emergency responders were eventually able to free both drivers and fly them to a nearby hospital.

“The fact that there were individuals out here with fire extinguishers in their vehicle kept [everyone] alive today,” Trooper Tower told KLTV.

The accident is a stark reminder to all motorists to be extra alert and vigilant whenever driving near 18-wheelers and other large commercial trucks. As driver Stark told KLTV, “A car is not a match for a truck. It’s no match.”

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck driver saves the day after fiery Texas crash

The crash occurred about 5:30 am on Saturday as the bus was traveling east on I-95 en route from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut to New York City’s Chinatown, where the passengers live and work. Witnesses, including passengers, told investigators they feared the driver was falling asleep behind the wheel or that something was distracting him because the bus swerved repeatedly onto the shoulder of the highway in the minutes before the crash. The bus eventually toppled over and was split in half from front to back by a highway sign post.

The driver, Ophadell Williams, 40, told police that a passing tractor trailer clipped the bus and caused him to lose control, but that account does not square with the physical evidence or the accounts of the passengers and tractor trailer driver. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has told the state’s inspector general to determine if Williams, who was arrested in 2003 for driving with a suspended license and served years in prison for other crimes, should have been granted a commercial driver’s license by the state.

According to federal regulations anybody with a commercial driver’s license may drive a passenger bus, so commercial bus companies rarely seek additional training or qualification when hiring drivers.

Safety advocates assert that other Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations are also inadequate in preventing crashes like Saturday morning’s crash in the Bronx. The FMCSA is currently under fire by the trucking industry for changes it wants to make to Hours of Service (HOS) regulations – the rules that address fatigue by governing a commercial driver’s daily hours of driving and rest. Federal regulators want to improve the rules so that drivers get more rest, but opponents in the trucking industry say that the proposed changes are too complex and bad for business.

Regulators have also pushed for the installation of electronic data recorders (EDRs) in buses to confirm the outdated and often forged logbooks drivers use to keep track of their driving and rest periods. However, a Senate bill that would have required EDRs and other safety measures such as seat belts for bus passengers, has failed to pass, mostly because of the expense they would impose on commercial carriers. Opponents of the extra measures often say that more enforcement is needed, not more regulation.

Federal safety records reveal that World Wide Tour buses were inspected 26 times during the last two years, with five violations related to fatigued driving issued in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. The same bus company has had two other crashes with injuries on record, one in Westchester, N.Y., and one in Perth Amboy, N.J.

“The problem is there are thousands of carriers out there, and nobody really focuses on them until there’s a crash,” Jacqueline S. Gillan, vice president at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a group that lobbies for stricter bus and truck regulation, told the New York Times.

“We want to ensure whoever is getting behind a wheel and driving 50 people down the road at 65 miles per hour is going to be sufficiently trained,” she added. Ms. Gillan also called the logbooks drivers use “comic books,” saying they were often falsified or altogether neglected.

Mr. Williams claims to have slept in the casino parking lot between 11 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday before returning to New York. Investigators are trying to substantiate that claim by scrutinizing Mohegan Sun surveillance tapes and interviewing potential witnesses.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Deadly Bronx bus crash fans regulatory debates

The bus was taking 50 kindergartners to nearby Morristown, New Jersey, to see a performance of Charlotte’s Web at the Mayo Center. According to local authorities, the bus, driven by a 36-year-old Newark resident, was ascending the hill when the driver felt the brakes failing. Witnesses said the bus began to roll backwards, swerving back and forth and knocking over a utility pole and a fire hydrant. The bus then mounted a curb and crashed into an Acura SUV that had been traveling on the same road. The bus came to a stop against a tree in the front lawn of a private residence.

The driver of the SUV told the Montclair Patch that the bus lost some of its speed after striking her vehicle and probably would have crashed into a house otherwise.

The school system leased the bus from the Eagle Rock Bus Company in West Orange, New Jersey. The buses are inspected only twice each year, and the bus that crashed was due for an inspection on Friday. Eagle Rock leases 11 other school buses to nearby school districts.

The bus crash on Tuesday marks the second time in four months that a Montclair school bus lost its brakes and crashed. The other accident occurred in November and involved a busload of Montclair High School students traveling to a camp in Warren County, New Jersey, for a school outing. Several students were taken to local hospitals with injuries and some were held for observation. The bus carrying the high school students was also leased by the school district from Eagle Rock Bus Company.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › New Jersey school bus hauling kindergartners loses brakes and crashes

The crash killed 14 people on the scene. A 15th passenger died from his injuries this morning, while three others remain on life support. Several others remain in St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx where they are being treated for non life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the bus, Ophadell Williams, 40, had arrived at the Mohegan Sun Casino in eastern Connecticut to drop off a load of passengers around 11 p.m. Friday. Williams told investigators that he napped in the casino parking lot until he was called to pick up a New York-bound group of passengers at 3 a.m.

Mr. Williams told authorities that after the bus crossed into the Bronx from Westchester County, a passing tractor trailer clipped the bus and caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

Accounts given by the surviving bus passengers, however, didn’t match up to Mr. Williams’ version. They reported that the bus had swerved several times, often driving over the rumble strips that warn drivers they are at risk of leaving the road. The passengers, en route to New York’s Chinatown where they lived and worked, told police they were afraid that the driver was falling asleep or that something was distracting him.

The bus then toppled over and slid on its side nearly 500 feet before hitting a highway signpost. The post sheared the bus in half from front to back at its window line.

Police were able to detain the tractor trailer but could find no evidence on it or the bus indicating the two vehicles made contact. Police reported that the truck driver and his employer have been extremely cooperative with investigators. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are analyzing footage from the bus surveillance camera that faced passengers, hoping to find additional clues. They are also analyzing the engine control module to determine if the bus was traveling above the 55 mph speed limit as witnesses have reported.

A background check on Mr. Williams revealed 1 1992 conviction of manslaughter for which he served two years in prison and an additional four years prison time on a larceny conviction.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Survivors of horrific NY bus crash feared driver was falling asleep or distracted

The comments, published on the FMCSA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Hours of Service, were submitted by the CVSA – an alliance of authorities responsible for enforcing truck safety regulations on all levels from local and state to federal. The group said the proposed changes may “open the door toward more drivers falsifying their records” than anything.

“Each year, CVSA certified inspectors conduct nearly four million inspections all across North America which provides CVSA with an unmatched level of real-world experience in commercial driver and vehicle safety,” said CVSA’s Executive Director Stephen A. Keppler. “The consensus from our state and jurisdictional enforcement members regarding these proposed rules is that they are confusing and not easily understood. The proposed rules, in our view, will be more difficult to enforce roadside than the rules in place today.”

The rule changes also come when regulatory agencies are facing massive budget cuts. Instead of adding to and complicating the work of safety enforcement authorities, the CVSA says the FMCSA should be exploring ways to enhance and improve safety enforcement.

While many safety advocates argue that the proposed rule changes don’t go far enough to mitigate the problem of fatigued drivers, others suggest the new HOS rules would have almost no benefit in preventing drivers from getting sleepy behind the wheel and might actually promote aggressive driving and increase traffic during peak hours.

CVSA also suggests that the FMCSA is attempting to fix what isn’t broken by instituting new rules when commercial motor vehicle safety is at an all-time high. Many analysts attribute the recent drop in commercial truck crashes to the economic slump and lowered demand for trucking, but some organizations have argued that those who do not believe the current HOS rules are at least partly responsible for these safety improvements have to admit that the rules did not harm the safety record.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Truck safety enforcers say hours of service changes may backfire

Oregon State Police said Eric D. Christiansen, 58, of Vancouver, Washington, jumped from the truck just before it and the diesel-laden tankers toppled over and rolled down an embankment. The truck and its trailers initially came to a stop, partially dangling from a guardrail on the right shoulder of the road, giving Mr. Christiansen time to climb out before the vehicles rolled.

Fortunately, the trailers did not catch fire and only the front trailer leaked a small amount of fuel because the hole was ripped above the tank’s fuel line. Personnel from the Oregon Department of Transportation remained on the scene monitoring the tankers containing 9,000-10,000 gallons of diesel until cleanup efforts could begin.  The company that owned the trucks worked to offload the fuel from the tankers over the weekend.

Equipment failure on heavy trucks is a common cause of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles, and the reason for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) decision to increase the importance of vehicle maintenance issues in its new CSA 2010 inspection program. Commercial carriers and individual drivers now can receive points on their record for seemingly minor maintenance issues, but those little defects sometimes lead to big disasters.

According to the FMCSA, every day 800,000 trucks haul hazardous materials on our state and federal highways. Two hundred hazmat trucks are involved in fatal crashes every year and another 5,000 are involved in nonfatal crashes.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Possible equipment failure sends diesel tanker plummeting off Oregon highway

On the early morning of November 18, Michelle Lamaze of Whitehall Township, New Jersey, was driving to work when she collided with a cargo container that became dislodged from a tractor trailer driven by 31-year-old driver Robert Kostadinov of Illinois. The top of Kostadinov’s cargo container, measuring 14 feet, 5 inches struck the bottom of the Fullerton Avenue overpass, which has a clearance of 13 feet, 10 inches. The container had also been improperly chained to the flatbed trailer and fell off the truck upon striking the bridge. Ms. Lamaze was killed when her SUV collided with the detached container.

Kostadinov plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving in January and on Friday he was sentenced to serve 5-23 months in Lehigh County Prison in New Jersey. Judge Kelly L. Banach immediately granted Kostadinov work release, whereupon he must perform 250 hours of community service, pay a $200 fine, and refrain from driving a vehicle for one year. He will also serve three years probation.

Kostadinov’s attorney said that the container, bound for Guam and filled with electrical switches, had been erroneously routed to California instead of New Jersey and that there was “a rush” to get it to its proper destination. Kostadniov told police that he had picked up the container in California and drove to New Jersey to deliver it.

Making sure a cargo load is safely secured is part of every commercial driver’s basic responsibility. Federal safety regulations require truck drivers to check their cargo every 300 miles and whenever the driver is returning to duty from a break. But what happens when the driver hasn’t been properly trained and relies on labor at the loading dock to properly secure the cargo?

Kostadinov told Judge Banach that he did not know the container’s height, had never measured the load, and had never been trained to do so. As a result, both he and his employer have to pay dearly. The family of Ms. Lamaze filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Indiana-based Vidov Trucking, Inc. and other companies involved in the cargo shipment. They received $1.86 million in damages.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Improper driver training, safety violations result in fatal NJ crash

Heavy trucks

The 28th annual Highway Hero Award ceremony was held last Thursday in Akron, Ohio. The four finalists announced were a Texas truck driver who administered CPR to a victim of a high-speed crash; a Washington truck driver who pulled an unconscious driver from a car seconds before it was struck by a train; a Nebraska truck driver who provided aid to a driver who had sustained life-threatening injuries after falling asleep and striking his rig; and a Florida trucker who stopped his 18-wheeler and applied his emergency medical training to help save a 7-year-old girl who had stopped breathing.

These professional truck drivers – Jaime Avitia, of El Paso, Texas; Tilden Curl, of Olympia, Wash.; Bill Howard, of Litchfield, Neb.; and David Nelson, of Orlando, Fla. – were honored for their bravery and will be considered for the top award, which will be announced on March 31.

“This year, our honored truck drivers all helped to rescue strangers who were in life-threatening peril. In each case, these drivers were able to literally save a life. Time after time, truck drivers have emerged as bona fide heroes. When individuals along North American highways have needed assistance, truck drivers have stopped to help, and sometimes put themselves in harm’s way,” said Joseph Copeland, a Goodyear vice president.

A detailed description of the incidents that led to this year’s Highway Hero nominations follows:

• Jaime Avitia, of El Paso, Texas, a driver for Stagecoach Cartage

Early in the morning of Aug. 31, 2010, Avitia was driving on I-10 on his way to a company facility in Laredo, Texas. Beneath I-10 at this point is Highway 17 and a dead-end service road, where he noticed a pickup truck driving at high speed. He watched as the pickup suddenly left the roadway, hit a concrete drainage culvert nose-first, flipped into the air and landed upright.

Avitia quickly stopped his truck, grabbed a flashlight and first-aid kit, and ran down the embankment toward the accident. Upon reaching the truck, he opened the front door, but couldn’t find anyone inside. He then realized the driver – not wearing a seatbelt – had been thrown into the back seat of the crew cab. Unable to find a pulse, Avitia was able to kneel on the front seat, squeeze between the arm rests and administer CPR on the man. After four chest compressions, the man finally coughed and began to breathe. As another man approached the wrecked pickup, Avitia told him to call 911. Until paramedics arrived, Avitia applied a towel and gauze to the man’s bleeding head and kept him comfortable.

• Tilden Curl, of Olympia, Wash., a driver for Tecco Trucking

Just after noon on Oct. 27, 2010, Curl was driving southbound on Highway 99 near Tulare, Calif., when a vehicle appeared to lose control and cross traffic, leaving the highway and finally coming to a stop with its front wheels lodged over the railroad tracks that run parallel to the highway. Curl stopped his truck to check on the car, then noticed a train was coming. An elderly woman exited the passenger side of the car, and Curl yelled for her to get clear of the tracks. He then noticed that the driver was unconscious and trapped inside. At first, the door couldn’t be opened, but Curl was able to squeeze his arm inside and unlock it. Working quickly, he was able to unfasten the man’s seat belt and drag him out of the car and away from the area just seconds before the train collided with the stranded vehicle.

• Bill Howard, of Litchfield, Neb., a driver for Howard Transportation

As Howard drove on Highway 2 near Ravenna, Neb., on May 22, 2010, a car crossed the center line and struck his rig that included a grain trailer. The female driver had fallen asleep, allowing the car to drift into the truck’s drive wheels, then underneath the trailer before coming to rest alongside the road.

When Howard stopped his truck to check on the condition of the driver, he found she had sustained life-threatening injuries, including a nearly severed arm, two broken legs, and injuries to her face and head. Keeping his cool, Howard was able to provide aid to the severely injured driver. He secured her injured arm with a shirt and kept her from bleeding to death. Two firefighters who were en route to a training class came upon the accident and helped Howard in the efforts to save the woman’s life.

• David Nelson, of Orlando, Fla., a driver for Werner Enterprises

On Feb. 2, 2010, while driving on I-20 near Birmingham, Ala., Nelson was flagged down by a woman who had just lost control of her vehicle and hit a road sign. Nelson pulled over his truck when no one else was willing to help, despite the woman’s pleas. Upon stopping, he approached the car and discovered the woman’s 7-year-old daughter was not breathing. To make matters more intense, he learned the child had a previous heart condition, and had experienced trauma during the accident. A certified EMT for 25 years, Nelson placed the girl on the ground and performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived. Because of his quick actions, the girl is alive and healthy.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Nominations for 2010 Highway Heroes announced

Oregon congressman Peter DeFazio introduced legislation last Thursday directing the U.S. Department of Transportation to study just how much time truckers typically lose while waiting at loading docks and to establish a maximum number of hours drivers my be detained without compensation.

“Over the years I’ve heard anecdotes from truck drivers that detention time is a big problem and contributes significantly to inefficiencies in the supply chain productivity,” DeFazio said. “I asked GAO (Government Accountability Office) to study detention time and quantify the results. It’s clear from the report that detaining truckers at loading docks is a significant problem that FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) needs to regulate.”

The legislation, H.R. 756, would require shippers and receivers to pay a fee to drivers for detention beyond the time limit established by the Transportation Department. Failure to compensate for excessive detention time would result in civil penalties being levied against shippers.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents more than 152,000 independent contractors, praised the legislation for the way it would make shippers and receivers accountable for their role in diminished productivity throughout the supply chain. The association also said that the bill would make significant improvements to highway safety.

A 2009 study conducted by the FMCSA estimated that waiting for loading and unloading cost carriers over $3 billion dollars annually. Supporters of the bill assert that time and money are squandered by shippers and receivers who have little regard for the carrier. Drivers are often forced to wait hours for a shipment to be readied without compensation, affecting their ability to make a living, especially under tighter Hours-of-Service requirements.

GAO studies show that driver detention and lost earnings are no small problem. Sixty-eight percent of 300 drivers polled reported being detained within the last month. Eighty percent of drivers who had experienced detention time reported that being detained impacted their ability to meet hours of service requirements.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Bill addresses loading dock detention time impact on productivity, safety

The proposed HOS changes have widened a rift between the trucking industry, which asserts the proposed changes would restrict business excessively in already economically challenging times, and safety advocates who say the changes don’t go far enough in reducing driver fatigue. According to Transportation Department records, driver fatigue accounts for up to 40 percent of all commercial vehicle crashes.

The FMCSA’s goal in hosting the listening session is to gather a broad range of comments, ideas, and relevant data in response to the HOS regulatory changes it proposed on December 23. HOS requirements are designed to help prevent commercial vehicle-related accidents, injuries, and fatalities by prescribing on-duty hours and rest periods for commercial drivers. The work limits are intended to reduce driver fatigue by preventing commercial truck and bus drivers from spending excessively long hours behind the wheel in the course of a day and week.

The FMCSA is holding the public session in response to requests from rule-change opponents. For instance, the Hours of Service Coalition — a group that includes American Trucking Associations, a number of trucking companies and construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and distribution trade groups, sent a letter Jan. 20 asking the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders to hold a hearing about the proposed changes before the public comment period officially closes on Feb. 28.

The hearing will be held at the Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport hotel at 1480 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. The live webcast may be viewed by going to www.fmcsa.dot.gov. The session will last from 12 noon until 12 midnight EST.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › FMCSA agrees to hold public hearings on proposed Hours-of-Service rules

The Oregonian reported that Ormerod had been hauling a trailer of produce, much of which had poured out of the tractor trailer into the creek. Authorities called in a hazmat team to clean up diesel from the crashed truck that was also spilling into the creek. Police are searching for any witnesses who may help them understand why the crash occurred.

In single-vehicle crashes such as Ormerod’s where neither the driver of the truck nor witnesses are available to help explain the circumstances leading to the crash, local authorities and federal investigators fall back on a number of resources to put the pieces together.

When weather, road conditions, and other drivers aren’t to blame, investigators often turn their focus to the driver’s health and driving record. For instance, sleep apnea, a condition that causes poor sleep quality, is a growing concern to federal regulators and the trucking industry because it leads to driver fatigue, which accounts for up to 40 percent of all commercial vehicle crashes according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records.

Without a proper medical explanation, investigators might check Hours-of-Service data to see if the driver’s schedule abides by federal regulations designed to mitigate driver fatigue. Other possible causes may include cell phone use or another form of distracted driving, such as eating or talking with another vehicle occupant. Together, these distractions account for about 14 percent of single-vehicle commercial truck crashes.

Speeding or driving too fast for road conditions, drifting out of lanes and overcorrecting, are all leading causes of commercial vehicle crashes, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration numbers, accounting for more than 46 percent. Electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs), the “black boxes” that are widely used in commercial vehicles, capture many crash variables, such as speed, hours driven, braking patterns, and even critical vehicular maintenance, which may help law enforcement determine why the truck crashed.

In 2009, 3,215 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes, resulting in 3,619 total fatalities. Incredibly, the number of large trucks involved in crashes resulting in injury dropped 52 percent from 1989 to 2009, while the number of fatal large-truck crashes fell 35 percent.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Investigating single-vehicle truck crashes

Current federal regulations stipulate that commercial truckers are allowed to drive a maximum of 11 hours in any one workday. The FMCSA has proposed dropping the maximum number of daily driving hours to 10, the limit before the Bush administration increased them.

That would mean commercial drivers would have 60 hours of driving time per week instead of the current 70. However, truckers could restart the work week by taking 34 hours off, but the proposed HOS changes would require them to include two consecutive off-duty periods between midnight and 6 a.m. specifically, while allowing only one restart in any seven-day period. The proposed changes would require truck drivers to complete all work within a 14-hour period, which includes the day’s driving, a one-hour break, and all loading or unloading.

Critics of the proposed rules assert that the changes will be bad for commercial carriers, drivers, and business in general in these economically challenging times. Another drawback these more restrictive hours would pose, they say, would include an increase of road traffic during daylight hours, generating more traffic and pollution. The fact that there are fewer rest areas in many regions, thanks to state budget cuts, is another reason some opponents say the new rules would be problematic.

Support for the proposed rule changes comes from truck safety groups and other safety advocates, labor unions, truck crash victims and survivors, and many commercial truck drivers who, as Public Citizen put it, “are forced to work sweatshop hours.” Some supporters even say the proposed changes aren’t strict enough because they will do little to correct the long hours, lack of rest, and fatigue truck drivers experience on the job.

Professional drivers generally are the safest drivers on the road, but all of them are susceptible to falling asleep behind the wheel with tons of cargo in tow. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, driver fatigue is the cause of 30 to 40 percent of all commercial truck crashes.

The outcome of the proposed rule changes may be uncertain, but one thing is for sure: the federal government will continue to walk a very tight rope between business interests and the need to improve safety.

SOURCE: Tractor Trailer Accidents › Hours of service changes: fans and foes weigh in