Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/741843
LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS DOT: Fatalities involving trucks up 4.4% in 2015 T ruck-involved crashes resulting in fatalities increased by 4.4 percent in 2015 from 2014, accord- ing to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's final 2015 fatalities report released last month. NHTSA reported 4,067 truck- involved fatalities last year, the highest number since 2008. Of those, 667 (16.4 percent) were truck occupants, 10.1 percent were nonoccupants and 73.5 percent were occupants of other vehicles. NHTSA's report doesn't account for crash fault. In total, 35,092 people died from crashes in the United States last year, a 7.2 percent increase from 2014, the largest increase since 1966. NHTSA also recorded a significant increase in the number of injuries last year, rising from 2.34 million in 2014 to 2.44 million. These numbers are lower than NHTSA predicted in its preliminary report released in July. A 3.5 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled is one contributing factor to the rise in fatalities, NHTSA said. The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled increased 3.7 percent to 1.12 in 2015. Crashes resulting in fatali - ties caused by driver distraction increased 8.8 percent from 3,197 in 2014 to 3,477. Alcohol-impaired fatalities increased by 3.2 percent, speeding-related fatalities increased by 3 percent, and drowsy-driving fatalities decreased by 3.2 percent. – Matt Cole OOIDA and ATA: Speed-limiter comment period too short T he Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and American Trucking Associations last month both filed requests with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asking that he and two of his subagencies extend the formal comment period on their proposal to require use of speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks. OOIDA asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to double the comment period from 60 days to 120 days, which would push the comment period's deadline to Jan. 7. ATA's requested 30-day extension would move the comment deadline to Dec. 7. NHTSA and FMCSA published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Sept. 7, initiating a 60-day public comment period in which fleets, owner-operators, industry stakeholders and the public at large can file formal comments related to the rule and its requirements. The rule was short on several key details, such as what the speed limit for trucks would be and to what extent the rule would be retroactive for trucks already in use. The agencies are looking for feedback from industry stakeholders to help guide it in crafting the final rule. OOIDA said its members need more than the current 60-day comment period to "adequately respond" to regulators on the proposed rule to require trucks weighing more than 27,000 pounds to use a speed governor that limits truck speeds to an unde- termined speed, likely 60, 65 or 68 mph. ATA, which filed a petition in 2007 seeking a speed-limiter mandate for the truck- ing industry, called DOT's Aug. 26-released proposal "a dramatic departure" from its petition. Moreover, it said, the industry's safety culture has seen much change in the nine years since its initial petition, largely because of greater adoption of safety tech- nology and added regulatory oversight via DOT's Compliance Safety Accountability program. "The proposed rule's dramatic departure from ATA's initial petition in terms of tamper-proof- ing, the lack of a retrofit requirement and the agencies' reluctance to specify a governed speed requires additional time for ATA and its federa- tion partners to reengage its membership on these important issues," ATA wrote in its exten- sion request. – James Jaillet Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/ news/subscribe-to- newsletters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newslet- ter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. commercial carrier journal | october 2016 9 The rule was short on several key details, such as what the speed limit for trucks would be.