Officials Cite Training, Technology, Design to Reduce Tank Truck Rollovers Crashes
By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the Dec. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
BALTIMORE — Trucking and government officials emphasized the importance of training in preventing rollover crashes, but they also said the use of technology and changes to trailer design were cost-effective ways to reduce crashes.
“There’s no single solution to prevent tank truck vehicle rollovers,” John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said at a Nov. 28 rollover summit here. “Instead, the answer has to be part of a systemic program on the motor carrier’s part.”
The summit was co-hosted by the Department of Transportation and the National Tank Truck Carriers.
Hill said FMCSA was working to develop a comprehensive strategy to address rollovers. He said from 2001 and 2005, between 42% and 45% of injuries suffered in single-vehicle truck crashes were the result of rollovers, and “52% of truck-occupant fatalities were involved in a rollover crash.”
“What we’re dealing with today is a problem that is killing a lot of people in this country,” he said.
During the summit, attendees reviewed a study of rollover crashes completed by research consultant Battelle Memorial Institute for FMCSA (8-6, p. 16).
What was startling in that report was that “75% [of rollovers] are attributed to driver error,” Hill said, and the primary cause was “running off the road, caused by driver inattention or drowsiness.”
“It is important to keep the truck on the road,” said Doug Pape, who oversaw the report for Battelle.
Pape said drivers’ errors that led to crashes were divided into two main types — performance errors, such as speeding or hard braking, and nonperformance errors, such as falling asleep at the wheel.
“Cargo tank drivers need to have all the same skills as other truck drivers; they just need to have them better,” Pape said. “They need ongoing training. . . . Most know how to operate the truck, but you need to keep reminding them” not to let their guard down.
Pape said devices such as stability control helped reduce the frequency of certain types of rollover crashes. Changes to trailer design — making them wider and lower to the ground — also cut the number of crashes significantly.
“Lowering a trailer three inches works out to about a 12% reduction in your annual rollover rate,” Pape said. “A wider track [trailer] . . . from 96 inches to 102 inches, nets a 17% reduction in rollovers over time.”
With the average cost of a rollover at almost $600,000, Pape said a cost-benefit analysis showed these changes could pay for themselves over time.
For example, every $1 spent on stability control devices, can yield a benefit of $2.20, he said, adding that was a conservative estimate because they also would prevent other types of crashes.
Similarly, every $1 spent on lowering the center of gravity would over time provide a benefit of $1.70. However, the biggest gains could be made by widening the stance of a trailer, he said.
“If you spend a dollar to buy a wider trailer, you get $18.90 in benefit over time,” Pape said.
According to the report, widening the stance of a trailer by six inches was the least expensive way to modify a trailer’s design — adding between $150 and $800 to the cost of a trailer.
The large reduction in crashes, coupled with the low cost of making the change made the use of wider trailers “a no-brainer,” Pape said.
Still, Steve Niswander, vice president of safety policy and regulatory relations for Groen-dyke Transport, said training was still the most effective way to prevent crashes.
“You’ve got to prepare them, no matter what technology device you’ve got on that truck. If you don’t control the nut behind the wheel to start with, they’re not going to have an effect,” he said. “That’s the reason for all this information.”
