Deborah Lockridge
What should a truck driver and trucking company do after a crash?
You’ve done everything you can to prevent crashes at your trucking fleet. The latest advanced safety equipment. In-cab cameras. Driver training and coaching. Creating a culture of safety.
But still, accidents will happen. Attorneys will file lawsuits. What happens after a crash can make a big difference in how your company fares in court, as well as affect your insurance.
What policies, procedures, training, and technology can your fleet implement post-crash to improve those outcomes?
Train Drivers Before the Crash Happens
Jennifer Akre, managing partner at Tyson & Mendes, stresses the importance of the first moments after a crash.
“The immediate 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes following a crash are really, really important,” says Akre, who has extensive experience in defending trucking fleets.
These early moments are often the hardest for attorneys, who must rely on secondhand accounts and policies rather than firsthand evidence.
Adam Lang emphasizes the importance of acting quickly and decisively: “One of my favorite words is alacrity,” says Lang, who is director of customer advisory services at Netradyne.
During his nearly 10 years at Wisconsin-based Halvor Lines, the truckload fleet earned numerous safety awards, including Lang being named the winner of HDT’s Safety & Compliance Award for 2020.
Another award-winning fleet safety executive, Jeremy Stickling, chief administrative officer for Illinois-based Nussbaum Transportation, also stresses moving quickly after a crash.
“The sooner we know if there is a severe one where there’s critical injury, that’s where we can mobilize the boots on the ground,” says Stickling, who is the 2025 Truckload Carriers Association Safety Professional of the Year.
“We can let our insurance company know right away. They can get the resources out to the scene and collect all the context while it’s fresh.”
The Business Case for Reporting Truck Crash Claims Early
It’s vital to get the claim reported to your insurance company as soon as possible, says Nick Saeger, assistant vice president for transportation products and pricing at Sentry Insurance.
“When we know that something happened, we can get in touch with everybody that’s been impacted, to the extent that we have the contact information — the trucking company owner, the driver himself, any other impacted third parties,” he says.
“We can let them know how the claims process might proceed and just help them become better acquainted with how we expect it to go.”
Even if you don’t believe your driver is at fault, even if the police officer at the scene says it wasn’t the driver’s fault, Saeger says, your insurance company needs to know as soon as possible.
“Liability and negligence laws vary widely from state to state,” he explains. “So even when a fleet thinks their driver is not at fault, you still need to report those claims.
“In some states, in the worst of scenarios, even if your driver is apportioned just 1% of fault, it’s possible for that accident or that claim to go straight to policy limits if the outcome or if the accident is severe enough. So when we know it’s possible, we can get in front of that and help eliminate those scenarios.”
Allowing the insurance company to get involved from the beginning also can affect a carrier’s ultimate cost of insurance.
“If you have a $25,000 or a $50,000 liability deductible, you are on the hook for that,” Saeger says. “Getting the insurance company involved can help save you actual dollars in those situations.
“Plaintiff attorneys are getting involved more frequently and earlier on in the claims process. The sooner we know, the sooner we can help.”
Truck Driver Crash Response Steps to Protect Your Fleet
A trucking fleet should train its truck drivers on what they should — and shouldn’t — do after a crash.
The first thing a driver should address after a crash is the safety of the scene. For instance, if the collision involved a utility pole on a wet road, you wouldn’t want the driver jumping out to help others only to get electrocuted by a live power line.
“You want to make sure that the area around the driver is safe,” Lang says. “If they’re not safe, they can’t do anything.
“I want that driver putting their flashers on and getting their high-vis triangles out and putting their high-vis equipment on when they get out of the vehicle. Day, night, doesn’t matter. I want it on.”
Drivers should call 911 before they even notify the company.
“Even if somebody at the scene says they’ve called 911, it doesn’t matter,” Lang says. “You want the driver to call 911, inform law enforcement quickly, and then you want that call to come in to the company.”
Once others in the crash have been seen to, 911 called and the driver’s company notified, drivers should take photos and/or video of the scene and gather other information that may be helpful. (More details on this in Part 2.)
Small Gestures Can Have a Big Legal Impact
“I had a driver who taught me something very valuable,” Lang says. “He was involved in a crash, and when he went and talked to the other motorist involved, he brought a bottle of water over to them and said, ‘Are you OK? Here’s some water.’
“The other driver remembered that small act of kindness, and it helped us solve that claim very quickly.”
Traditional thinking has seen trucking companies telling drivers not to get out of the truck, for fear that they might do or say something that could lead to litigation later on. But that’s changing.
“You’ll see some coaching out there that says the driver should never say ‘sorry’ at the scene,” says Stickling.
“I flinch at that a little bit. There’s humans involved, and there should be empathy and care.”
Why Empathy Matters in Trucking Crash Response
Akre has seen from experience what can happen when a driver doesn’t show concern for others at the scene.
“I think that the old advice was, ‘Don’t say anything, don’t talk to anyone, don’t call anyone, buckle down and call your boss immediately and let them handle it,” she says.
“That led to a bunch of cases where I had a plaintiff or multiple plaintiffs that are injured, and I’ve got a truck driver who’s been told to sit in the cab of his truck and do nothing.”
Two years later, she says, the driver ends up being grilled in a deposition by the plaintiff’s attorney, who is saying something like, “So while my client was bleeding in her car, you didn’t even go check on her. While my client was pinned underneath your truck, you didn’t even get out of the cab to go check on her.”
When the driver responds that it’s company policy, the corporate representative must try to explain why that policy exists.
“And the corporate rep can’t really explain it outside of, ‘We’re just trying to cover our butts from a liability perspective. And because my lawyers told me to,’” Akre says.
“If you want to tick off a jury? Don’t take care of the plaintiff. Don’t be a human.”
After a Truck Crash: ‘Be a Human’
In fact, Tyson & Mendes, a pioneer in fighting against “nuclear verdicts,” is unveiling a new litigation and trial strategy called The Apex.
“The first rule of our Apex method is to be a human,” Akre says. “Be a good human. So I think the better advice is to get out of your truck, if it’s safe to do so, and go check on the other people.”
Don’t Let Your Fleet’s Safety Manuals Hurt You in Court
Drivers should not discuss liability, but they should be encouraged to show basic human concern. Lang says.
“It doesn’t have to be a big conversation. It can just be, ‘I’m checking on you. Are you okay?’”
“When people are injured, in that first 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is,” Akre says. “That’s for the lawyers to deal with later. Right then, the only thing that matters is, ‘How are you? Do you need help?’ Just take care of the other person, be a good human first, and the rest will follow.”
At Nussbaum, Stickling says, “What we do is just make sure [drivers are] careful about who they talk to and what they say, because it can be used against you.
“It’s hard for me to see the risk of a driver showing that they actually care.”
Experts Recommend Mitigation Strategies Like Ensuring Safety of Equipment, Smart Insurance Policies, Relationships With Attorneys
Connor D. Wolf
SAN DIEGO — The trucking industry has been facing surging unfavorable verdicts and insurance costs as biases and policies drive up costs beyond economic reality, according to a panel of experts Oct. 28 at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.
“A variety of factors including global events, natural disasters, economic conditions, legal trends and rising claim costs are impacting corporate insurance expenses,” said Pamela Blass Bracher, deputy general counsel at ATA. “With costs increasing per mile and new insurance capacity entering the market slowly, motor carriers face ongoing challenges in procuring insurance and managing their risk program.”
Bracher added that claims are remaining open for longer, and plaintiff attorneys are quicker about filing lawsuits, forgoing pre-suit claim demands and settlement talks. She said this has resulted in an increase in average loss severity for both indemnities and expenses, while insurance companies raise premiums, reduce coverage and withdraw from certain markets in response.
“Traditional economic drivers, such as wage inflation, medical cost trends and [consumer price index] growth, no longer explain the pace at which liability claims are escalating,” Bracher said. “To accommodate rising insurance costs, trucking companies have employed strategies, and they’re rethinking their total limits. Legal dynamics, including tort reform and state judicial elections, continue to shape the industry landscape. Raising public awareness of litigation trends has never been more important.”
Bracher pointed out that these insurance policies don’t just reflect carriers’ risk profiles; the emotional and psychological biases of jurors across the country are now factoring into premiums too. She said this underscores the need for the insurance industry to better explain how litigation dynamics impact cost and availability.
“It’s a supply and demand question, just like all of us are dealing with in the trucking space right now,” said Nathan Meisgeier, president and chief legal officer at Werner Enterprises. “In auto liability, frankly, in any corporate insurance market, it starts with a supply and demand question. … As insurers have started to shrink the policies that they’re willing to write, as the number of insurers available to us shrinks, that’s a supply side part of the dynamic.”
A nuclear verdict that went against Werner was overturned by the Texas Supreme Court this June. (Werner Enterprises)
Werner was the defendant in a fatal highway accident that occurred in Texas in 2014. A Werner tractor was struck by a pickup truck whose driver lost control on icy roads and crossed the median. The jury initially awarded $89.7 million in damages to the plaintiffs in 2018. After one unsuccessful appeal, the decision was overturned by the Texas Supreme Court this June. The carrier pointed to the fact that the truck driver stayed in his lane and was below the speed limit.
“But even before the Werner verdict happened in 2018, we had a year where our rates went up significantly, and our loss run was frankly stellar,” Meisgeier said. “There’s part of the analysis that is not controlled. And so, the overall macro is happening to you, and you can’t control that part. What can you control? You can control things like what kind of equipment are you running? You can control things like, what do your policies say? You can control things like, when you’re getting data off of your telematics system, are you doing anything with it, or are you just putting it in a storage container somewhere for a plaintiff lawyer to mine someday?”
Meisgeier also stressed the importance of ingraining safety into company culture. That means making sure every driver knows that nothing is worth the risk of hurting themselves or others and that people and loads aren’t being pushed too hard. At the foundational level, he said it boils down to good training across the company.
“We’re viewed as all one industry, it’s all together, and we’re very different sizes and have very different experiences, but our value of safety and safety toward the motoring public is really important,” said Kristin Glazner, chief administrative officer at Wabash. “The second item being, regardless of the size of the company you are, really knowing your lawyers.”
Glazner added that carriers should retain lawyers that understand their culture and values. She recommended carriers use lawyers to inspect whether any of their operations and procedures increase liability risks. If a carrier has an upcoming case, she said the legal team should learn from their lawyers about the nuances, like what the judge is like, to calibrate a better approach. She also highlighted the importance of getting help from associations and groups like ATA.
“Tort reform is really important,” Glazner said. “That’s not something that can just happen federally. Do we want that to happen federally, absolutely. There are things, particularly in the product liability space, that would be very helpful to have it federally. But most of the tort reform … is very state to state, and how states view negligence. That is an important activity, it’s a journey, that work may never be done completely.”
North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria
The following amendments were suggested for the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria (OOSC). They were presented to Class I Members for a vote. The approved changes will be incorporated into next year’s out-of-service criteria, which will take effect on April 1, 2026. Please note that Part I items 9-11 have been renumbered below to reflect the addition of a new item 9. English Proficiency (U.S. Only), which was added to the OOSC by emergency action in June.
- “Part I, Item 2. OPERATOR’S/CHAUFFER’S LICENSE OR PERMIT (NON-CDL) b. and c.” and “Item 3. COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE, c. and d. Endorsements and Restrictions” were updated to separate “Endorsements and Restrictions” into two different entries – “Endorsements” and “Restrictions” with specific violation codes added for each.
- The change to “Part I, Item. 8. Intoxicating Beverages, b. Be on Duty or Operate” is to align the out-of-service condition with the alcohol content thresholds in the federal regulations.
- Language in “Part I, Item 10. DRIVER’S RECORD OF DUTY STATUS – U.S., a. Property-Carrying Vehicles (6), (7) and (8) and b. Passenger-Carrying Vehicles (6), (7) and (8)” was modified to clarify when a driver should be out of service for a false record of duty status and a new out-of-service condition was added for electronic logging device tampering.
- The reference to automatic on-board recording devices was removed from “Part I, Item 10. DRIVER’S RECORD OF DUTY STATUS – U.S., Footnote 6” due to them being removed from the regulations.
- The note from “Part I, Item 11. DRIVER’S RECORD OF DUTY STATUS – CANADA, i. No Previous 14 Days” was moved and placed under “h. No Daily Log/Record of Duty Status” as it is more relevant to that section.
- The text under “Part II, Item 1. BRAKE SYSTEMS, h. Air Brake Hose/Tubing (7)” was moved to “a. Defective Brakes (2)” and the term “gladhands” was changed to “service air connections.”
- “Part II, Item 1. BRAKE SYSTEMS, a. Defective Brakes (7) Hydraulic and Electric Brakes” and “b. Front Steering Axle(s) Brakes, (4) Hydraulic Brakes – (Front Steering Axle)” were both updated to state less than 1/16” or 1.6 mm to reflect a thinner measurement than the regulatory requirements in Canada and the U.S.
- “Parking Brake” was changed to “Parking/Emergency Brake” in “Part II, Item 1. BRAKE SYSTEMS, e.”
- A wire rope damage chart was added to “Part II, Item 2. CARGO SECUREMENT, Tiedown Defect Table – Wire Rope.”
- Information about countersunk screws was added to “Part II, Item 3. COUPLING DEVICES, b. Upper Coupler (Including Kingpin).”
- Number (5) about lubricant within the hub was removed from “Part II, Item 14. WHEELS, RIMS and HUBS, i. Hubs.”
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Seven Out-of-Service Types chart was added to “Part IV, Item 4. U.S. FEDERAL OUT-OF-SERVICE ORDERS.”
Operational Policies
- In Operational Policy 4 – Inspector Training and Certification, definitions of certified inspector, new entrant safety auditor, off-site new entrant safety auditor and safety investigator were updated to reflect an enforcement official from a member jurisdiction.
- Operational Policy 4 was updated to allow a Level VII Inspection to count toward initial and annual certification.
- Language was added to Operational Policy 4 to clarify that any combination of off-site or on-site new entrant safety audits can meet the maintenance requirements.
- Operational Policy 4 was amended to allow cargo tanks containing elevated temperature materials to be included in initial certification and maintenance of certification allowances.
- Operational Policy 4 was updated to include the Canadian term “highway tank” when referencing Cargo Tank Inspection certification.
- Updates were made to Operational Policy 4 to grandfather in Canadian inspectors in relation to the newly developed Canadian Dangerous Goods Inspection certification course, with future inspectors being required to attend the newly developed course.
- All references to Advanced Explosives and Cargo Tank Facility Review courses and certifications were removed from Operational Policy 4.
- Verbiage regarding certification extension was added to Operational Policy 4 for Level II Inspection, Level III Inspection, Level V Inspection, Cargo Tank Inspection, Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods Inspection, Passenger Carrier Vehicle Inspection, New Entrant Safey Audit, and Investigative Safety Analysis, similar to what was already applicable to Level I Inspections.
- Operational Policy 5 – Inspection/CVSA Decal was updated to include guidance on whether to document violations on components not in use on a vehicle when not in combination.
- Operational Policy 14 – Enhancing Roadside Inspection and Enforcement Data Uniformity was updated to include guidance on how to document 20% out-of-service brake violations when defective brakes are found on certain vehicles.
- A note regarding documenting anti-lock brake violations was removed from Operational Policy 14.
- Guidance was added to Operational Policy 14 for documenting violations of overloaded tires.
- Operational Policy 15 – Inspection and Regulatory Guidance was updated to add guidance for securement, lighting and flag requirements on forklifts on the back of trucks or trailers.
- A fine structure was added to Operational Policy 17 – Uniform Maximum Fine Schedule for violations for the English language proficiency requirements.
All operational policies may be accessed by members via the CVSA member portal. Once logged in, under the “Documents” heading, select “My Digital Library,” then click on “Operations Manual.”
Administrative Policies
Language was added to CVSA Administrative Policy 19 – CVSA U.S. State and Territorial Training Programs to define veteran and junior Curriculum Advisory Team members, their term limits and application dates.
All administrative policies may be accessed by members via the CVSA member portal. Once logged in, under the “Documents” heading, select “My Digital Library,” then click on “Operations Manual.”
Inspection Procedures
- Steps 22 and 23 in the North American Standard Level I Light-Duty (Hydraulic) Vehicle and Trailer Inspection Procedure were amended to add guidance on applying and releasing the brakes during the inspection.
- The North American Standard Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods Inspection Procedure was updated to clarify a U.S.- only requirement, include a reference to Canadian package types and remove outdated references to ORM-D materials.
Detailed inspection procedures can be found in the CVSA member portal. Once you’ve logged in, under the “Documents” heading, select “My Digital Library,” then click on “Operations Manual.”
Inspection Schematics
Three inspection schematics were updated:
- North American Standard Hazardous Materials/Dangerous Goods Inspection Procedure Schematic
- North American Standard Level I Light-Duty (Hydraulic) Vehicle and Trailer Inspection Procedure Schematic
- Mexican Licencia Federal de Conductor Schematic
All inspection schematics are housed in the CVSA member portal. Once you’ve logged in, under the “Documents” heading, select “My Digital Library,” then click on “Operations Manual.”
Inspection Bulletins
The following inspection bulletins were updated:
- 2025-03 – Electronic Parking Brake Control Systems | (French) (Spanish)
- 2021-04 – Mexican Federal Licenses | (French) (Spanish)
- 2020-02 – Roadside Examination of Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Status | (Spanish)
- 2012-06 – Identifying Intermodal Equipment Providers for Intermodal Chassis
Inspection Standards
The following changes were made to the CVSA Enhanced CMV Inspection Program.
- The table in the CVSA Enhanced CMV Inspection Standard was edited to clarify when a defect will fail a dispatch or in-transit inspection, and guidance was added to better explain the columns.
- In Section 3.17.b, a bullet was added to the In-Transit column to make it clear that a brake rotor worn through to center vents is a defect.
- The note at the bottom of Section 6.1.a was amended to clarify that the inoperative light defects listed in that section would be in either the Dispatch or In-Transit column based on which column an inoperative light is located for a particular light.
- The CVSA Enhanced CMV Inspection Standard and Periodic Inspection Standard Defective Conditions of Hose, Tubing and Lines was amended to align with Operational Policy 15 – Inspection and Regulatory Guidance and Canada’s National Safety Code 11B.
- A note was added to CVSA Enhanced CMV Inspection Standard Section 9.4.c to clarify that air exhausting from the control box on a tire inflation system is normal and not a defect.
Letters and Petitions
- CVSA will petition FMCSA to change the adjudicated citations policy to allow lead state agencies to make a masking determination and deny such requests for data changes.
- CVSA will send a letter to FMCSA requesting that the agency release the non-redacted version of its English Language Proficiency enforcement guidance, English Language Proficiency Under 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2) (MC-SEE-2025-0001) to the public.
- CVSA will send a letter to FMCSA requesting the agency allow commercial motor vehicle drivers to continue to provide enforcement officials with a paper copy of the medical examiner’s certificate as proof of the driver’s medical certification until the National Registry II system is fully functional.
Policy Positions
A policy position on adjudicated citations was added to the CVSA Standing Policy Guide.
Reauthorization Positions
- An addendum was added to the “Minimum Qualifications for Entry as a Motor Carrier” reauthorization position statement to include CVSA’s recommendations for what should be included as part of the minimum qualifications.
- An addendum was added to the “Improvements to the New Entrant Safety Audit Program” reauthorization position statement to include CVSA’s recommendations for what should be included to bring the focus back to motor carrier education.
Other
- The board approved a waiver request from Québec from the requirement that inspectors complete eight annual inspections on passenger-carrying vehicles to maintain their certification. The waiver is necessary due to a ruling in the province that requires inspectors to complete all inspections at scale facilities. The waiver is effective through the end of the 2026 calendar year.
- CVSA staff will conduct a survey of lead agency contacts to understand the hurdles jurisdictions may have with automated completion of the Level VIII Electronic Inspection and enforcement around them and what must happen if a driver is determined to be out of service.
- A new Advanced Roadside Hazardous Materials Inspection Course was approved.
- Curriculum updates were made to the North American Standard Part A (Driver) Inspection, North American Standard Part A (Alaska) Inspection, North American Standard Part B (Vehicle) Inspection, Passenger Carrier Vehicle Inspection, General Hazardous Materials Inspection, Cargo Tank Inspection, Other Bulk Packaging Inspection certification training courses, and the New Entrant Safety Audit and Investigative Safety Analysis certification training courses.
Webinar
CVSA is offering a webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 12, to go over the action items listed above and more.
Meeting Minutes
The board will review and approve the minutes from September’s board meetings at the next board meeting, which will be in December in Washington, D.C. Once approved, the minutes will be posted in the CVSA member portal.
Mark Your Calendar
The CVSA Workshop is scheduled for April 19-23, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois.
Truck Parking Slips to No. 2 Spot in Annual ATRI Survey
Keiron Greenhalgh
Adequate compensation is the top concern among professional drivers in 2025, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual survey of trucking industry participants.
Driver compensation replaced truck parking atop the list of worries for drivers who responded to the 21st critical issues survey, ATRI said Oct. 26.
Truck parking was the No. 2 concern in 2025 for drivers. English-language deficiency for drivers, broker issues and detention/delay at customer facilities rounded out the top five among the 27 topics to choose from.
Wages are up 2.4% for drivers, according to ATRI research, but that is 0.5% below the rate of inflation.
A study commissioned by FinditParts on truck driver job satisfaction saw predictable pay cited by 81% of drivers as the reason for seeking alternative employment.
During the unveiling of the study’s results at American Trucking Associations’ 2025 Management Conference & Exhibition, Prime Inc. over-the-road driver and America’s Road Team captain Emily Plummer bemoaned the state of the economy and its impact on drivers.
“Drivers don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck,” said Plummer, a driver for 24 years who has accumulated more than 3.5 million safe driving miles.
Drivers want to be able to feed their families, pay their mortgage or rent, the basics every American desires, said Plummer, who was named the Truckload Carriers Association’s 2023 Professional Driver of the Year.
Plummer warned MCE attendees that drivers are taking money from their nest eggs to get by when they want to be saving, putting money away for retirement or major life events.
“Every carrier in here would love to pay their drivers more. It is just not on the cards at the moment,” says A&M Transport CEO Andy Owens. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
Speaking on the same panel as Plummer unveiling the study’s results, A&M Transport CEO Andy Owens said it had been difficult as a carrier to raise driver wages because of the freight rate recession.
Glendale, Ore.-based truckload carrier A&M Transport operates in five Western states. Owens also is chairman of the ATRI Research Advisory Committee.
“Every carrier in here would love to pay their drivers more. It is just not on the cards at the moment,” said Owens.
The top overall concern among survey respondents, the economy, did not make the Top 10 for drivers despite the correlation between that and drivers’ No. 1 issue.
There were more than 4,200 respondents to the survey. Of those, 47% were from motor carriers and 30% were drivers.
Respondents’ top-ranked strategies for dealing with drivers’ biggest concern in 2025 were quantifying the economic impact of paying drivers for all their hours worked, including detention time and congestion delays; analyzing driver compensation models and the correlation to job satisfaction; and researching the effectiveness of carrier programs that financially incentivize drivers, including regarding fuel economy.
ATRI research has shown driver productivity — and therefore compensation — is hurt by 135.9 million hours annually for detention and 1.2 billion hours annually for congestion.
Meanwhile, truck parking slipped to No. 2 in the rankings for driver concerns, perhaps reflecting progress made over the past year. Truck parking also slipped two places to the No. 4 spot in the overall results of the study.
Ohio and Pennsylvania, for instance, announced expansion of truck parking capacity, with 1,400 spots to be added in Ohio and 1,200 in Pennsylvania.
And at a federal level, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which would provide grants for building and improving parking, was unveiled in February, while the Department of Transportation unveiled more than $200 million in grants during the summer.
It is not just the amount of parking that concerns drivers, however, Plummer told MCE attendees. There’s a big difference between parking and safe parking, said Plummer, adding: “I can park my truck anywhere, but am I safe there?”
In addition, safe truck parking is key to attracting and retaining new drivers, especially female drivers, said Plummer.
Oftentimes, drivers may not have a choice outside of on- and off-ramps, said Plummer, which isn’t good enough — a position her peers agree with.
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.
