The National Transportation Safety Board wants trucking companies to gather 10 years of driving records for newly hired drivers — an increase from the current three years that the board said does not allow carriers to make informed hiring decisions.
In presenting its findings from a March 2011 bus crash in New York City that killed 15 people, the board also recommended Tuesday that all new heavy vehicles have devices that limit vehicle speeds based on current speed limits.
Three-year driving records, which the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires carriers to obtain, “are insufficient to make an informed hiring decision and result in the motor carrier not having access to sufficient safety-related information prior to hiring drivers,” NTSB said in the report from the crash.
Though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently considering a speed-limiter mandate for heavy vehicles, such devices would be set permanently to one speed. In the March 2011 crash, the bus was speeding in a zone limited to 50 mph.
The five-member NTSB is an independent agency charged with investigating transportation accidents.
