US truck lobby says governments need to change enforcement approach to improve truck safety
The onus is being put on government road agencies in the US to rethink their approach to enforcement practices to increase safety in the trucking industry.
During his appearance before a US Senate committee on transport, American Trucking Associations (ATA) executive vice-president David Osiecki advocated a reversal in the way agencies go about enforcing heavy vehicle regulations.
Most resources are funnelled into roadside enforcement but data from America’s federal truck regulator, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), shows on-road traffic enforcement is more than four times more effective at preventing crashes and saving lives.
“Given this compelling data, it’s logical to place more emphasis on traffic enforcements than on roadside inspections. However…traffic enforcements only comprise a small portion of field enforcement interventions,” Osiecki says.
“It is clear from this data that FMCSA and its state partners have a substantial opportunity to improve truck safety through a more effective allocation of enforcement resources. However, seizing on this opportunity will require difficult choices and a willingness to challenge traditional approaches to enforcement.”
Osiecki told the Senate committee a greater focus on traffic enforcement will have an impact on state agencies.
“For instance, since many state officials who conduct vehicle inspections don’t have traffic enforcement authority, their livelihoods may be threatened,” he says.
“Further, since some of the lead state commercial motor vehicle enforcement agencies don’t have traffic enforcement responsibility, they will have to either yield resources — or entire management of the state’s commercial motor vehicle enforcement program — to another state agency.
“However, it is clear from the data that these difficult steps must be embraced and implemented in the interest of further reducing crashes and saving lives.”
Osiecki says roadside inspections are limited to checking for defects and reviewing a driver’s work diary, while traffic enforcement involves on-road monitoring to detect unsafe behaviour and some form of inspection.
He also used his appearance to reiterate the ATA’s support for mandatory speed limiters and electronic work diaries, along with the creation of a national database to house drivers’ positive drug and alcohol tests.
“Such a database would close an existing loophole that allows drivers who violate the drug and alcohol regulations to evade the consequences of their actions by merely obtaining employment elsewhere,” Osiecki says.
He also touched on the safety gains the industry has made over the years, including reducing the number of truck-involved fatalities from 2002 to 2012 by 21 per cent.
The injury rate from accidents involving trucks has also fallen 20 per cent over the same period.
Osiecki says the truck-involved fatality rate has dropped 74 per cent since 1975, the year the US Department of Transportation started keeping records.
“The trucking industry places both driver safety and public highway safety at the top of its priority list each and every day. In fact, ATA conservatively estimates the trucking industry spends at least $7.5 billion per year on safety,” he says.