NTSB: Put Black Boxes on Trucks

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The National Transportation Safety Board called on truckers to look to the skies for a way to improve safety and repeated demands that trucks be required to install black boxes similar to those used on airplanes.

The agency got no takers, however, as truckers and the Federal Highway Administration said electronic recorders were great, but only if their requirement was voluntary.

The call and response came at an NTSB-sponsored symposium on data recorders and how they are being used to improve safety and investigate accidents in the transportation industry.

The conference, held May 3 to 5, examined the use of black boxes in all modes of transportation. Over the rail and in the air recorders have been required for many years, but those of sea and highway vehicles have yet to gain widespread use.

Jim Hall, the chairman of the NTSB, decried that fact, noting statistics showing aircraft accidents for each million miles flown are down to one-sixtieth from 1960, when recorders were first required.

"Imagine the safety impact of such a change on our highways, where we still see about 40,000 deaths a year," Hall said. "Ironically, even though we have seen the safety benefits of recorded data in almost all modes of transportation, the one mode where recorders have not yet had any impact is in highway accident investigation, where more than 90% of transportation fatalities in the United States occur each year."

For the full story, see the May 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.