DOT Likely to Order Change In Tanker Design
Under pressure from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Department of Transportation’s Research and Special Programs Administration will draft a proposal likely to alter tanker trailer design.
The hazardous materials regulatory agency is responding to a problem it first attempted to address 15 years ago, and it expects to issue a proposal within months, according to Patricia Klinger, a DOT spokeswoman.
Particular attention to the issue of wet line vulnerability has increased since an NTSB finding in an investigation of a 1997 tank truck accident in Yonkers, N.Y. The collision and fireball of that crash killed a doctor, closed part of the New York State Thruway for six months.
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 |  National Tank Truck Carriers |
| DOT will draft a proposal to prevent explosions when lines underneath tankers rupture after accidents. |
DOT reports 47 impact accidents between 1990 and 1997 ruptured pipes beneath tanker trailers, known as wet lines.
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