• 26
  • May
    2011

A federal safety panel hosted by the National Transportation Safety Board two weeks ago addressed commercial bus and truck accidents. The federal safety board heard from safety experts, representatives from government agencies and trucking industry people on how roadways can be made safer regarding large commercial vehicles.

Though much progress has been made concerning commercial truck fatalities, more progress needs to occur according one NTSB board member. Fatal accidents involving large commercial trucks have declined over the last half decade. From 2005 to 2009 deadly large truck accidents declined from over 5,200 deaths to around 3,200 deaths. The lower number of truck crash fatalities is in line with an overall decrease in motor vehicle fatalities. Some say the drop in highway fatalities is linked to the health of the economy and as soon as the economy heats up an increase in fatal traffic and fatal truck accidents will follow.

The string of fatal tour bus accidents along the East Coast two months ago has put the safety of commercial buses on many people's minds. Each year the tour bus industry makes about 700 million passenger trips. The number of yearly commercial passenger bus trips is about the same as airline passenger trips. Every year around 20 people are killed in commercial bus accidents.

The Obama administration has proposed several measures to reduce the number of commercial bus and truck accidents in the United States. Some of the proposals surround the issue of driver fatigue. Fatigue is responsible for approximately one-third of all commercial vehicle accidents. Next time, we will discuss the administration's proposals and other related efforts.

Source: The Associated Press, "Panel to focus on deadly truck, bus accidents," 5/10/11