Trucking Safety and Truck Accident News
Highway Work Zone Awareness Week is April 4 through 8
Thursday, 07 April 2011 09:04
SOURCE: http://www.in.gov/indot/2310.htm
INDIANAPOLIS - With over $1.5 billion in new Indiana highway projects beginning work, 2011 is shaping up to be Indiana's largest road construction season on record, surpassing previous years. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is joining with traffic safety personnel nationwide as part of Work Zone Safety Awareness Week this April 4 through 8 to stress "Safer Driving. Safer Work Zones. For Everyone."
On average four out of every five people killed in highway work zones are drivers or passengers, not highway workers. According to the ARIES electronic crash records system, 12 people were killed and 602 people were injured in work zone crashes during 2010.
Steeper fines and penalties await drivers who speed or drive recklessly through a work zone. Under Indiana law, drivers can be fined up to $1,000 for speeding in a work zone. Motorists who drive recklessly or aggressively through a work zone could face fines up to $5,000. Drivers who injure or kill a highway worker may find themselves paying a $10,000 fine or serving up to eight years behind bars. Fines paid are used to fund additional work zone patrols.
To avoid becoming a statistic, INDOT urges drivers to follow the safety tips listed below while driving through work zones. Additional information can be found at INDOT's work zone safety Web site, http://www.workzonesafety.in.gov/.
· Stay alert! Look for reduced speed limits, narrow driving lanes and highway workers.
· Pay attention. Work zone signs will tell you exactly what to expect ahead.
· Merge early. If drivers merge as soon as they see the signs, traffic will flow more smoothly.
· Slow down. If you're speeding, you may encounter slowed or stopped traffic within seconds.
· Don't tailgate. Maintain a safe distance on all sides of your vehicle.
· Minimize distractions. The three C's - cell phones, CDs and coffee - are the primary causes of driver inattention.
· Plan ahead. Expect delays and allow extra travel time. Select an alternate route if you are running late.
FATIGUE MAJOR FACTOR IN Indiana TRUCK ACCIDENTS
Thursday, 13 May 2010 13:20
Deborah Hersman is the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and spoke recently in Washington D.C. at a National Press Club luncheon. Among the topics Hersman covered in her speech was the role that fatigue is playing in transportation accidents.
According to Hersman fatigue is a leading cause of accidents in the transportation industry, especially in rail and trucking accidents. Hersman went so far as to categorize fatigue as an "insidious problem for the industry." The chairman stated that when her agency investigates any sort of accident that they try to establish what the operators had been doing in the 72 hours prior to the accident. This allows investigators to ascertain if the operator had been using alcohol and drugs, and if they were working while fatigued when the accident happened. She said that fatigue is especially prevalent in the trucking industry where drivers are under pressure to pull more loads and cover more miles. Along those lines Hersman said that fatigue is a difficult area to police because the operator often doesn't exhibit signs of dangerous fatigue until it's too late.
Trucking isn't the only sector of the transportation industry that suffers from a fatigue problem. Hersman addressed a recent incident where pilots were said to be dozing when they missed their airport, and gave examples of rail accidents where tired operators contributed to deadly accidents.
Hersman explained to those gathered that her agency works to make transportation safer and does more than investigate accidents. Accident investigations are the most visible aspect of what the NTSB does, but there is far more to what the agency is about. The NTSB sets standards and regulations for the transportation industry and lobbies Congress to make laws concerning the transportation industry. She acknowledged that the press is a vital partner with the NTSB in increasing safety in the industry.
Only when the press and the NTSB work together will people become informed about these important issues and that could be what it takes to get Congress more responsive to recommendations of the agency.
Helping Troops to Keep on Trucking
Thursday, 18 February 2010 15:51
Soldiers in the National Guard Reserves who have been deployed should not have to fight to keep their civilian posts back home, wrote a retired military official in a January 2010 post in Freight Public Policy Blog.
"As if the stress of a combat zone is not enough, some Guard and Reserve members also suffer financial hardships due to their service," wrote Lt. Col. David L. "Duke" Ellington (ret.) "This happens when their military pay while on deployment is less than that which they were making in their private industry job. Worse yet, even though federal law mandates that an employer must provide re-employment at a similar level and pay to returning employees, some Guard and Reserve members come back, find their employers have abandoned them, and have to fight to get their job back -- a travesty that was brought to light by the TV news magazine '60 Minutes.'"
Even so, some trucking companies and trucking advocacy organizations are working to ease the transition between the rigors of military service and a civilian career. A personnel supervisor for Con-way Freight's service center in Indianapolis, Ellington said his company believes it is its obligation to show reservist soldiers the support and respect that is their due. "At any one time we may have as many as 100 employees on active deployment, " he wrote. "While on leave for deployment, the families of these service men and women continue to receive company medical benefits. In the case where the deployed-employee's military pay is less than their Con-way pay, the company makes up the difference."
For its part, the American Trucking Association (ATA) has announced it is working with the Army Reserve to help recruit and retain reservists who have truck driving skills, and to assist those truck drivers who are leaving the military to find jobs with trucking companies. Ellington said Con-way's reservist employees who have been deployed and returned have access to the company's health plan to help them cope with the stress involved in deployment and in transitioning to life stateside. In addition, he wrote, "the job they had when they went on deployment is there for them when they come home."