NTSB issues recommendations to NHTSA to improve safety of tractor-trailers

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an effort to improve the safety of tractor-trailers, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued seven recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Millions of large trucks travel our roadways every day, transporting goods and keeping the American economy moving,” said NTSB chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “But research shows that eliminating blind spots and underride events would reduce fatalities and injuries involving other road users.”

The recommendations were derived from an NTSB safety study conducted in 2012 and other research that identified statistics claiming 500 deaths occur each year due to collisions with the sides of tractor trailers. The recommendations urge the NHTSA to require that newly made trucks and trailers be equipped with side underride protection.

The NTSB also urged the NHTSA to address the issue of data collection. When in a collision, details of the trailer component are normally missing from federal and state databases. This information could help evaluate safety standard and determine which equipment should be altered to reduce injury to passengers.

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  • Look at the trucks and trailers in Europe. Get the info end do not reinvent the wheel. Save time and $ ,Paccar owns DAF Trucks in the Netherlands they have all the facts.

    • It’s all great to make trucks and trailers safer….but until responsibilty for one’s own actions is placed BACK on the person behind the wheel of the other vehicle…..and stop the ridiculous lawsuits that put blame on the truck/ driver through some entirely unrelated issue like a bad tire or a light out or 15 minutes missed in a log book……there will continue to be crashes and deaths, because drivers of non-comms in general have no respect for trucks or the space they occupy. Why should they….if there’s a collision, some ambulance chasing lawyer will find some way to blame it on the truck….and then the poor poor car driver can GET MONEY!!!!

  • It’s all great to make trucks and trailers safer….but until responsibilty for one’s own actions is placed BACK on the person behind the wheel of the other vehicle…..and stop the ridiculous lawsuits that put blame on the truck/ driver through some entirely unrelated issue like a bad tire or a light out or 15 minutes missed in a log book……there will continue to be crashes and deaths, because drivers of non-comms in general have no respect for trucks or the space they occupy. Why should they….if there’s a collision, some ambulance chasing lawyer will find some way to blame it on the truck….and then the poor poor car driver can GET MONEY!!!!