NTSB Issues Cargo Tank Rollover Recommendations

The National Transportation Safety Board Tuesday issued a slate of regulatory recommendations aimed at reducing the number of cargo tank truck rollovers.

The five-member board recommended that federal regulators develop comprehensive, industry-wide cargo tank truck safety performance standards by  mandating the installation of roll stability technologies on current and future cargo tanks and  requiring future  safety  improvements in cargo tank design.

Although NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said cargo tank rollovers had been a concern for the past 40 years, it was the board's first-ever sweeping action on the issue.

The recommendations came at a hearing after the board concluded that a serious liquid propane tank truck rollover in 2009 near Indianapolis was probably caused by the 73-year-old driver’s “excessive rapid steering maneuver.”

The accident seriously injured the driver and a subsequent explosion and fire left three other motorists with minor injuries. 

“Tank truck rollovers cause devastating consequences to the driving public,” Hersman said.

Hersman said that there are 1,300 cargo tank rollovers annually. Although cargo tank trucks represent only 6% of all trucks on U.S. highways, they account for nearly one-third of all fatal rollover mishaps, she said.

“I agree that we need what the chairman called a holistic approach,” John Conley, president of National Tank Truck Carriers, told Transport Topics. “I think they did a very thorough and good report.  But there will be parts of it that will give us some heartburn.”