American Trucking Associations Vice Chairman Phil Byrd said Tuesday that law enforcement agencies must do more to focus on the unsafe behavior of drivers, both commercial and noncommercial, in order to achieve safety improvements.
Speaking to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance in Louisville, Ky., Byrd said that “about 90% of crashes are the result of driver error or unsafe driver behaviors, and only about 10% are attributed to vehicle factors. With this in mind, we must commit ourselves to focusing on appropriate and effective countermeasures that will impact driver behavior.”
Byrd also called on the law enforcement group to focus more on the role of passenger vehicles in causing fatal crashes.
ATA reported in February that as many as three of every four crashes involving cars and heavy trucks are caused by automobile “driver factors” such as speeding or failure to stay in a lane.
“Passenger vehicle drivers are principally responsible for about 70% of fatal car-truck crashes,” Byrd said. “We must increase our emphasis on the unsafe behavior of those operating around trucks both through enforcement and education.”
Byrd questioned why the enforcement community was reducing the amount of traffic enforcement activities it conducts under the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, in favor of increased roadside inspections of trucks and driver credentials.
“I think most would agree that examining credentials is not the most effective way to discourage unsafe driving behavior,” Byrd said, citing Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data.
“In terms of crashes avoided and lives and injuries saved, the benefits of traffic enforcement, coupled with some inspection activity, [is] about three times more effective than roadside vehicle inspections,” he said.
