Mark Schremmer
About two decades ago, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration attempted to study the causes of large truck crashes.
It’s fair to say that the truck crash study was a disappointment.
As Land Line Managing Editor Jami Jones pointed out in a recent analysis, the study didn’t determine who was at fault or really why the crash happened. Instead, it focused on pre-collision events rather than consequences.
Jones recalled one peculiar example in the previous Large Truck Crash Causation Study.
“A truck turns across the path of an oncoming car at an intersection. The critical event is the truck’s turn across the path of the other vehicle. The truck had the turn arrow, observed the oncoming vehicle and assumed that the oncoming vehicle would stop, which proved to be incorrect. (Right-of-way, which is captured separately, does not necessarily determine the critical event, because the collision may still be avoidable.) The critical reason is ‘false assumption of other road user’s actions.’”
So, instead of focusing on the car that ran the red light, the example turned the spotlight on the truck driver for assuming that other vehicles would follow traffic laws. Seriously?
No doubt, we needed a redo.
The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included a provision that required a “Study of Commercial Motor Vehicle Crash Causation.” This past August, the FMCSA published a notice and request for comments about its plans to conduct another study.
“FMCSA intends to collect data over the course of two years with a target start date of early 2026,” the agency wrote in the notice. “Collection and receipt of data may continue beyond the 2-year study period based on state-specific agreements and the renewal of this information collection request. At the conclusion of the study, a final report and supporting database with aggregate, anonymized results will be published.”
OOIDA comments
On Oct. 27, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed formal comments in support of the new study looking at Class 7 and Class 8 trucks.
OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote that the new study gives the agency an opportunity to drastically improve upon “the failed structures and methodologies” of the initial Large Truck Crash Causation Study.
Spencer added that the study has the potential to help identify key driver, vehicle, motor carrier and environmental factors that may contribute to fatal crashes involving heavy-duty trucks.
“Moving forward, we are hopeful the Crash Causal Factors Program will be completed in a meticulous manner and can guide effective safety improvement policies and programs,” Spencer wrote.
