Hersman Says Finding Patterns of Violations Can Help Prevent Fatal Highway Crashes

This story appears in the Oct. 1 print edition of Transport Topics.

PORTLAND, Maine — The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board urged commercial vehicle inspectors meeting here to look for patterns of motor carrier safety violations that could lead to fatal crashes.

“As inspectors and investigators, you know that the little things do turn into big things, especially when it comes to safety deficiencies not addressed,” said NTSB’s Deborah Hersman.

Hersman and Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, were keynote speakers at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual conference here.

Since she joined NTSB in 2004, Hersman said, the agency has conducted more than 30 major truck and bus accident investigations. From those investigations, her agency has issued dozens of safety recommendations and learned many lessons.

“While these lessons are individually illuminating, in total if you look at the big picture, what they reaffirm is that time-honored saying, ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ ”

During her speech, Hersman outlined the results of recent bus and aviation crashes and a pipeline spill. She said that, in each case, there were warning signs or “smoke alarms” that should have signaled future problems to enforcement officials.

“They serve as a reminder that poor performance is a strong indicator of future performance,” Hersman said. “If you keep seeing issues with a company that you are inspecting, what does that tell you? What does that tell the company’s individual employees if that company can continue to get away with behavior like that? And what does it tell the regulator?”

Hersman said she admired state troopers not only for their hard work enforcing commercial vehicle safety but dealing with the 11 commercial vehicle accidents on average per day.

“This audience, more than any other audience, really understands what the death toll on our highways really means. You see it in your work every day,” Hersman said, “and many of you in law enforcement have the hardest job to do — death notifications.

Hersman praised Ferro’s accomplishments the past four years.

“One of the things I want to tell you is that administrator Ferro has not just initiated efforts, she has delivered on those initiatives,” Hersman said. “There are new rules, including a ban on texting and handheld cellphone use for truck and bus drivers, efforts to better manage fatigue, ongoing work on [electronic onboard recorders] and crackdowns on marginal operators, the likes of which we have not seen.”

In her speech, Ferro reminded inspectors that they could expect additional changes to FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program early next year.

She said a safety fitness determination rule that will use carriers’ safety scores as a measure of their fitness will be announced later this year.

“I tell folks to get your reading rooms ready,” Ferro said. “This stuff is complicated. We need you to be able to read it and have discussions. Don’t just read it alone; read it and talk with somebody, and if CVSA can facilitate some discussion groups, please do.”

Although CSA has been generally accepted by the trucking industry, it remains controversial among some truckers, she added.

“Let it be known . . . CSA is our new enforcement platform,” Ferro said.

“It is the way we are doing business, going forward.”