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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 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed requiring safety belts in all new passenger buses and large school buses. The lap and shoulder belts would be mandatory on all passenger seats and the driver’s seat as well. The proposal, which would amend the federal motor vehicle safety standard on occupant crash protection (FMVSS No. 208), is intended to prevent the ejection of bus occupants in a crash or rollover.
A Greyhound bus crash in Fresno, California early Thursday morning has left six people dead and 30 people injured – four of them critically.
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.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), commercial truck and bus drivers are using their safety belts more now than ever before. That’s good news for sure, but 26 percent of commercial drivers still snub the belt, meaning the FMCSA’s mission to get all drivers to buckle up is still 26 percent incomplete.
