NHTSA Seeks Ways to Use Technology to Reduce Truck-Involved Fatalities
By Jonathan S. Reiskin, Associate News Editor
This story appears in the Feb. 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
A high-ranking federal safety regulator said truck-involved fatalities have been stuck at a “relatively flat” level for years, and that trend leads officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recommend using “Buck Rogers”-style technologies to lower accident rates.
Stephen Kratzke, NHTSA’s associate administrator for rulemaking, told truck parts makers meeting in Las Vegas late last month that his agency this year could release rules on brake stopping distance, brake hose materials, and electronic and roll stability control. In the longer term, he said, the agency might address tire-pressure, lane-departure and forward-collision warning systems, but it wants to solicit industry opinion in doing so.
“Returns on what we have been doing are limited, but now we can do what was unthinkable 30 years ago, when it would have sounded like something from Buck Rogers. The best use of technology is to help prevent an accident,” Kratzke told members of the Heavy-Duty Manufacturers Association.
Kratzke said regulators at his agency are motivated by the fact that “highway crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people from birth through 35 years old. This is a number we have to drive down.”
He said truck-involved fatalities have hovered between 4,900 and 5,400 a year since 1995, but added that, when deaths are adjusted for millions of vehicle-miles traveled, the rates have declined (12-17, p. 1), “so exposure-based risk is less.”
“The laws of physics make it challenging to protect occupants in cars and light trucks when there is a crash with a large truck. Therefore, the focus has to be on using technologies to help prevent these crashes,” Kratzke said.
A rule tightening the standard for stopping distances for trucks has been prominently atop NHTSA’s agenda since late 2005, and Kratz-ke said a final rule is expected by midyear.
Kratzke said brake-stopping standards for trucks were first set in 1995 and that a December 2005 proposal called for a reduction of 20% to 30%.
Of the 47 comments on the rule’s docket, Kratzke said most supported the goal of reduced stopping distance, but there was disagreement as to whether the standard should be set at 20%, 30% or another level. He said NHTSA “won’t pick a technology,” meaning larger drum brakes or disc brakes, but would set a distance-based standard instead. The requirement would take effect two years after publication of the final rule.
Kratzke said NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason wants to accelerate testing on roll stability and electronic stability control systems, and that a decision on these technologies could be made by the end of this year.
He said the agency published a rule in April mandating electronic stability control on all vehicles with gross vehicle weight ratings of less than 10,000 pounds by 2011. That rule would affect Class 2 trucks and lighter, including sport utility vehicles, which have had roll-over problems.
However, Kratzke said the agency is also looking at ESC and roll stability control in terms of tractor-trailers.
Also during the first half of this year, Kratzke said, his agency is scheduled to put out rules on brake hose standards and upgraded tire standards. A “thorny” technical question related to brakes, he said, is whether nylon should be specified as the only permissible material for air brake tubing.
Kratzke said NHTSA will look at how to address tire-inflation monitoring and warning systems for lane-departure front-end collisions. However, he said it is important for the agency to solicit opinion from industry and not just regulate in the abstract.
“It’s clear to us [in government] that suppliers are leading developers of safety-innovation technology, and truck [original equipment manufacturers] serve as integrators.
“Government alone doesn’t have the expertise or resources to decide which technologies are the most cost-effective, so heavy vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and users need to bring their expertise to the table,” Kratzke said.
