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More commercial truck and bus drivers in Missouri are buckling up behind the wheel, a new survey found, reflecting a larger national trend in safety belt awareness and usage amongst professional drivers.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced revisions to its Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010 safety measurement program, the federal initiative designed to improve large truck and bus safety and reduce the number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV)-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Although the changes are minor, they were implemented in response to feedback from trucking professionals and worth noting, especially if you or your company has been directly affected by the new CSA 2010 rules.
Police in Garden City, Georgia are ramping up efforts to make sure commercial truck drivers drive safely and follow the rules, and their efforts are paying off for everyone.
“So, what causes a rollover?”
That’s the question at the center of a new 17-minute instructional safety video produced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in cooperation with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and other industry partners.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 4,229 trucking fatalities occurred on U.S. roads and highways in 2008, its last complete statistical year. Traffic fatalities have been steadily dropping over the last 10 years, but there is no doubt that there still are far too many preventable fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles. Whether it was a shift in improperly loaded cargo causing a rollover, a commercial trucking company not equipping the truck with a cab guard, or a defective design that caused the cab to catch on fire — one preventable death is too many.
Last week we reported that the American Trucking Association’s Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) established a task force to investigate the causes of commercial truck fires and prescribe possible solutions. The issue has taken on a special urgency because truck fires today tend to be much more intense than they were when cabs sported utilitarian interiors that were less conducive to heat and flame. Modern cab and sleeper trim, new composites and flammable glues invite the small spark of an electrical short or the heat of two crossed wires to ignite a fire and engulf all parts of the truck in the blink of an eye. The TMC task hasn’t formally published its findings yet, but it has recommended a few things that drivers, carrier companies and service technicians should observe extra carefully in order to mitigate the chances of a fire breaking out.
The American Trucking Associations’ Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) has established a Task Force to investigate the causes of commercial motor vehicle fires and to identify measures to prevent them. According to one electrical expert and Council contributor, Bruce Purkey of Purkey’s Fleet Electric, truck fires are especially dangerous in today’s trucks for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
This summer, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will begin its transition from the SafeStat safety performance ranking system to the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 ranking system, generally referred to as CSA 2010.
