American Trucking Associations said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s draft five-year strategic safety plan, while a good start, does not do enough to address the root causes of crashes.
In comments filed Friday, ATA said it “commends FMCSA for acknowledging the need to address all entities that affect truck and driver safety in the transportation life cycle, especially the operators of passenger vehicles with which trucks share the road.”
FMCSA said late last month it would take comments through the end of July on its five-year strategic plan for truck and bus safety, which aims to maintain high safety standards in the industry and remove high-risk carriers, drivers and service providers from operation.
“While the draft plan addresses these issues, it falls far short in that it does not identify the primary causes of crashes and prioritize countermeasures and solutions accordingly,” ATA wrote.
By minimizing the emphasis on addressing passenger vehicle driver behavior, “FMCSA will, at best, only impact the minority of truck crashes — perhaps less than 30% — caused by truck drivers,” The group said it its comments.
To view ATA’s full comments on FMCSA’s five-year strategic plan, click here. (PDF)
