Category Archives: Truck Safety

The Rest of the Story

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

If you took the time to read about our crash in the Bloomberg News article published today, please don’t stop there. I want you to understand the entire scope of our concern about truck safety; and it is NOT all about being upset with the truck drivers.

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-01/mom-takes-on-truckers-after-highway-wreck-kills-daughters.html

Please read the post I wrote back in July, called “Our Crash Was Not An Accident.” It summarizes what I am trying to say and why, if we really want changes made in truck safety, we cannot just read and talk and complain about it.

We need to solve this problem together.

 https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/

We Rescue Jesus Saves 018

Pay Attention, America! Help bring totally avoidable crashes to a stop!

Truck Safety, , ,

gertie 2947

Please read this article written about the unfolding tragedy–which never seems to end–due to a truck/car crash in August 2010.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-30/death-on-highway-leaves-trucker-angry-at-widower-and-god.html

I did a chart showing the estimated number of deaths due to truck crashes, just since 1984, and the lives impacted–almost 500,000 people who had a curve ball thrown at them when they were not looking and many of them likely still not over it to this day.  Truck Crash Fatality Chart

I recently wrote about some of my own struggles in coping with a senseless tragedy:  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=707717949310722&id=464993830249803 

In fact, I have taken advantage of facebook and our own memorial website to express what we have been going through. It has helped me immensely. I hope that it will help others.

Truck Driver Training Requirements Long Overdue

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , ,

1 gertie 2782

Would AnnaLeah & Mary be here now to enjoy another beautiful autumn day. . . if the truck driver had been required to go through more rigorous and complete driver training before he got his CDL?

Yesterday, a number of safety groups announced that they are suing the federal government in an attempt to increase the requirements for obtaining a CDL. Read about it here: http://trucksafety.org/safety-advocates-teamsters-sue-u-s-dot-failing-issue-long-overdue-truck-driver-training-requirements/

“Congress initially told the agency to finish a rulemaking process on driver training by 1993, but the agency still has not done so.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed the suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia against the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the agency charged with issuing the rule. Public Citizen is representing the groups.”

Let’s stop dragging our feet. . . this is not rocket science (as Jerry likes to say)!

gertie 132

Update on Electronic Logging Devices

Truck Safety, , , ,
Washington DC 151
I emailed one of my contacts at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week to check on the progress of the Electronic Logging Device Rule (one of the 3 requests in the AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition). This was his reply:
Hello, Marianne,
We are analyzing more than 2,000 comments that were submitted to the ELD Notice of Proposed Rulemaking docket. After completing this review, we will determine if changes to the proposed rule are in order before a final rule is issued.
 
The ELD rule is our top priority, and our goal is to issue a final rule in 2015.
 
Thank you for checking in with us on the status of this rulemaking. . . .
 Bill Bronrott
(See Public Comments on the ELDs here:  http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketBrowser;rpp=100;so=DESC;sb=docId;po=0;dct=PS;D=FMCSA-2010-0167 . Our AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up for Truck Safety Petition is included at this site–one of the 2000+ comments.)

 

This was my reply:

Bill,

Thank you for getting back to me. I appreciate your taking the time to update me.

After what we have gone through in our case, with no log books ever being obtained from the truck driver — thus no way of determining his hours of service or possible fatigue, I am more convinced than ever that Electronic Logging Devices are essential.

Furthermore, I hope that, in the crafting of the final rule for ELDs, there are appropriate provisions included for consistent monitoring by means of this technology–for both preventive and investigative purposes. I urge you to put particular emphasis on including means for monitoring independent owner operators who might not have an employer looking over their shoulder. And don’t forget to do all in your power to train those in the enforcement and judicial systems to make full use of this technology.

Finally, I hope that this will be a beneficial technology which will be well-received and pave the way for other useful assistive devices, such as driver fatigue monitoring devices. For example, see this article,  http://www.academia.edu/4840350/A_Synopsis_Report_On_EYETRACKING_BASED_DRIVER_FATIGUE_MONITORING_AND_WARNING_SYSTEM_Submitted_By :

“The main idea behind this project is to develop a nonintrusive system which can detect fatigue of the driver and issue a timely warning.Since a large number of road accidents occur due to the driver drowsiness, this system will be helpful in preventing many accidents, and consequently save money and reduce personal suffering. This system will monitor the drivers eyes using a camera and by developing an algorithm we can detect symptoms of driver fatigue early enough to avoid an accident. So this project will be helpful in detecting driver fatigue in advance and will gave warning output in form of sound and seat belt vibration whose frequency will vary between 50 to 60 Hz. Moreover the warning will be deactivated manually rather than automatically. For this purpose a de-activation switch will be used to deactivate warning.

Moreover if driver feels drowsy there is possibility of sudden acceleration or deceleration. We can judge this by Plotting a graph in time domain.If all the three input variables show a possibility of fatigue at one moment then a Warning signal is given in form of text or red color circle. This will directly give an indication of drowsiness/fatigue which can be further used as record of driver performance.”

Thank you again for your part in improving safety on the roads. And I look forward to future updates, which I hope will give evidence of the priority you have indicated is being given to this needed improvement in truck safety.

Marianne

A Terrible Turmoil; An Unresolved Grief

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , ,

Picture 667

I have been familiar, for many years now, with the concept of anger being a secondary emotion. Now I get to live it out in a new circumstance: being angry due to the frustrations of the inadequacies of the justice system, regulatory system, enforcement system, et cetera of the trucking industry.

The awareness that these problems are likely to go on and on, and be ignored and belittled and result in evermore senseless deaths, leads to a helpless rage. My daughters died…and why?

For those who do not understand my struggle to move through this grieving into a greater measure of peace, I hope that you never have a reason to get a better grasp of the complexities of this dilemma.

It is not that I do not have faith that they are in a better place; I know that they are. But I daily struggle with the thought that if only somebody had done something differently, then AnnaLeah and Mary would still be here.

And because there are so many, many things that somebody could have done something about along the way that could have resulted in a different outcome, I cannot seem to stop asking the question, “Why didn’t they?!” And, will they ever?

A terrible turmoil.  An unresolved grief.

We Rescue Jesus Saves 018

(Related post: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/)

Justice: Up close and personal

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety,

gertie 2946

Have you ever had to struggle with the meaning of justice in your life? Up close and personal?

Who, if anyone, should be held accountable for the loss of innocent life? (I am thinking of not only this one case, but also of the 4,000 truck crash fatalities each year—on average—although not all the fault of the truck driver.) And what should be the consequences of their actions?

(I have addressed this issue to some extent in a previous post, “Our Crash Was Not An Accident”: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/ .)

Pray for us to have wisdom and peace as we face this question and the opportunity to communicate to a judge by way of a Victim Impact Statement. May we plant seeds which will have far-reaching impact.

(Note: A plea offer has been made with a possible hearing in Georgia on September 22—which we plan to attend.)

“Give the king Thy judgments, O God,
And Thy righteousness to the king’s son.
May he judge Thy people with righteousness,
And Thine afflicted with justice.

He will have compassion on the poor and needy,
And the lives of the needy he will save.
He will rescue their life from oppression and violence;
And their blood will be precious in his sight;…

And let them pray for him continually…”
Psalm 72:1-2, 13-15

IMG_4462

We rescue, Jesus saves.

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety,

We Rescue Jesus Saves 004

We Rescue, Jesus Saves: This sign outside a fire station caught my eye.

We Rescue Jesus Saves 018

Safety Is No Accident: Preventing a crash takes work.

IMG_4475

Once a crash has happened, heroes come to the rescue.

IMG_4462

Sometimes all their efforts are to no avail.

May 8, 2014 from Kathryn

But the good news is: Jesus Saves.

back of headstone

Fatigue in Transport…from an Australian source

Truck Safety, , , ,

Washington DC 151

I read this recently from an Australian paper on fatigue in transport. . .

“Human fatigue is now recognised around the world as being the main cause of accidents in the transport industry. It is increasingly being recognised as a safety issue of the highest priority.

The issue of fatigue in the workplace in all modes of transportation and even beyond transportation is something that is exploding as a priority issue across the industrialised world. (Transcript of evidence, 10 September 1999, Melbourne, p.186 (Prof. David Dinges).

Fatigue is not just an industrial issue to be negotiated between employers and employees. It is also an occupational health and safety issue, a commercial issue, a public safety issue and, at times, an environmental issue. Individuals and organisations that fail to manage human fatigue sensibly, risk having or creating accidents with a broad range of damaging and enduring consequences.”

 http://www.rsrt.gov.au/default/assetsFile/exhibits_draftRSRO/TWU31_2.pdf

A Question About FMCSA Monitoring & Enforcement of Underride Guards

Truck Safety, , ,

underride guards trip to RDU 005

I wrote to a number of people last week about my frustration with the many trucks which I see on the road with underride guards that I am not very confident could withstand a crash. This, naturally, is distressing to someone who has lost a loved one due to an underride guard that did not withstand a crash.

I expressed my concern that little appeared to be happening in terms of monitoring underride guards. I asked them to show me if I was wrong.

This week, I got a reply from Jack Van Steenburg, Chief Safety Officer with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in Washington, DC. This is what he explained to me about their role in monitoring underride guards (among other things):

“Marianne,

I will reply to this email as your others on this subject are captured below.

First, let me state that underride protection requirements are identified in our Safety Regulations under 49CFR§393.86,  Rear impact guards and rear end protection. (http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/393.86)  This section is covered and taught to all certified Inspectors across the United States in our North American Standard Truck Inspection course.

To date, in 2014 there have been 2,358 violations of this regulation written by Inspectors.  If a traffic ticket was written to a driver for this violation, then he/she is responsible for the violation.  In all cases, the motor carrier has to repair or fix any violation cited on the inspection report within 15 days following the date of inspection.  The states follow up with the carriers to assure the violations are fixed.

The violations cited for this section, and any other vehicle equipment violation, are captured in our safety data and are a component of the formula that drives our CSA Safety Measurement System Unsafe Driving BASIC.  If that BASIC (as well as others) exceeds a certain threshold, then we will take some type of intervention ranging from a warning letter outlining the equipment concerns to a full comprehensive on site compliance review.  There are many penalties a carrier can receive ranging from a notice of violation all the way to an Unsatisfactory rating.  Those processes are set out in our regulations as well.

I might add that all states have adopted the 49CFR §393.86,  Rear impact guards and rear end protection, section within their own laws.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Thanks

Jack Van Steenburg”

I replied to his email:

“Jack,

Thank you for your detailed response in describing the regulation, training, and inspection process. I am glad to see that there is a procedure in place.
Marianne

2,358 violations issued out of 2 million tractor trailers = .12%

Hopefully, the other 1,997,642 (or 99.88%) are in better shape than the ones which received violations this year.

http://www.truckinfo.net/trucking/stats.htm
“How many trucks operate in the U.S.?
Estimates of 15.5 million trucks operate in the U.S.. Of this figure 2 million are tractor trailers.”
(Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can do to make those existing 2 million trailers have a more effective design. But I wish that I could hurry along even faster the improvement of the underride guards on future tractor trailers!)

Reckless Driving & Criminal Injustice: One More Grief For Victims to Bear

Truck Safety, , , ,

gertie 132

MOM (Mad Old Mother) has had it up to here!

I have been frustrated this week with the unveiling of new details which compound the lack of accountability and justice in our truck crash. Basically, once a truck driver is charged with homicide by vehicle, second degree–which is a misdemeanor–there is, too often, no chance that anyone will dig deeper and see if it would be more appropriately charged as first degree–a felony.

The result: a homicide for which no one is held responsible.

Then I read this morning about 7 family members killed in a truck crash on August 15, 2013. The surviving family just found out that, ” there are no charges being filed against this truck driver. The prosecutor’s office said tests showed there were no drugs or alcohol in the Michigan trucker’s system at the time of the fatal crash.”  http://lakeshorepublicmedia.org/140938/

Law Enforcement is in the habit of charging truck drivers with Homicide by Vehicle, Second Degree: A Misdemeanor. Current Laws do not define their actions as Reckless.

End Result: There is no Accountability for their Actions.

Wake up, world! According to Georgia law (where our crash occurred), “reckless driving is defined as driving a vehicle in a manner that shows reckless disregard for the safety of person or property.”

Of course, truck drivers are not charged with reckless driving because they did not set out to intentionally harm someone.

I am not saying that every truck crash fatality is due to reckless driving. But Everybody needs to understand that truck drivers get on the road in a Death Machine.

Drivers need to be properly trained and educated to understand that their Every Action can mean the difference between life & death. Especially Driving While Fatigued! (DWF)

Trucking companies need to schedule and pay their drivers with the full knowledge that they bear a part of the blame if truck drivers are fatigued.
https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/driver-fatigue-needs-to-be-recognized-as-a-public-health-problem/

Law Enforcement needs to rethink their attitude. State departments of motor vehicle & public safety need to be more vigilant. Truck driver training schools need to train their drivers more thoroughly. County prosecutors need to become educated about the dangers of Driving While Fatigued. Laws need to be changed to reflect this deadly and overlooked reality. And the Trucking Industry needs to acknowledge that putting drivers on the road with Unsafe Equipment makes them Culpable in this Reckless behavior as well.

Injustice in truck crashes needs to stop! http://tinyurl.com/pbfburj and http://tinyurl.com/py6nmtw #trucksafety #nojustice #driverfatiguefelony