Driver Error Causes 75% of Tanker Rollovers, FMCSA Report Says

By Tarun Reddy, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the May 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

LAS VEGAS — An upcoming report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will show that nearly 75% of tank truck rollover accidents are caused by driver error.

Bill Quade, FMCSA’s acting associate administrator for compliance, said the remaining 25% of tank truck accidents examined by the agency resulted from factors including other driver actions and road conditions.

Another part of the report showed 90% of rollovers occur when a driver loses control on a straight road or collides with another vehicle, Quade said. Only 10% of the accidents examined by the agency occurred while a tanker was on an exit ramp or a sharp curve.

The 10% figure “surprised us tremendously,” Quade said during the National Tank Truck Carriers’ annual meeting here. Quade said he thought the curve category would be higher.
The study, a joint effort of FMCSA and the Battelle Memorial Institute, will be posted on the agency’s Web site in about a month.

Quade said the report will show that when a truck driver starts to lose control, he or she tends to overcorrect the steering, which leads to rollovers.

“We think there is a major role for improved driver training,” he said, adding that the use of electronic stability controls could be a part of this effort.

NTTC President John Conley said he had not yet seen the report but  he was surprised that driver error was responsible for 75% of accidents examined by the study.

“I thought this figure would actually be closer to 90%,” Conley said.

He added he was pleased with how FMCSA assembled the study and that Quade met regularly with NTTC members to update them on the report. Conley also met with Battelle researchers during the process.

Quade said FMCSA also considered whether tank trucks could be redesigned to improve safety by lowering their center of gravity.

“But these designs can be expensive and impractical,” and increased use of accident-prevention technology might be a better alterative, Quade said.

He suggested the report’s findings could lead to the creation of a tank truck safety task force and that he has spoken about the idea with Theodore Willke, acting associate administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

PHMSA writes the regulations that govern tank trucks, and FMCSA is responsible for enforcing them.