Safety Begins Behind the Wheel
This Editorial appears in the June 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
An emphasis on driver behavior runs through an 18-point plan developed by American Trucking Associations to reduce crashes involving cars and trucks. Chilling statistics illuminate why this kind of focus is essential.
ATA unveiled its plan at a June 9 press conference on Capitol Hill (click here for story). In an op-ed published the same day by the Wichita Eagle, ATA President Bill Graves, a former governor of Kansas, presented a compelling case for cracking down on dangerous driving.
Aggressive drivers cause more than half of fatal crashes — 56%, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Graves wrote that is why ATA strongly encourages targeting behavior behind the wheel of cars and trucks alike.
He also called for a commitment to restricting use of distracting technology.
“It’s estimated that 85% of all cell phone users talk on their phones while driving. That’s a scary figure, considering that drivers are 18% slower to react to brake lights,” Graves wrote.
Just as scary, he said, is the estimate that cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States each year.
Watching navigation screens while operating a vehicle isn’t safe, either.
Limiting the use of cell phones and Global Positioning System readouts is a pretty tall order for our technologically rich culture. But what goes on behind the wheel of a moving vehicle is a matter of life and death. And that, we argue, trumps any value of conveniences.
At the press conference, Barbara Windsor, president of Hahn Transportation and the trucking federation’s second vice chairwoman, said 11 of the 18 policies on ATA’s list address driving activity because “driver error and inattention contribute to a majority” of crashes. Hahn chaired the ATA safety task force that drew up the policies.
Indeed, John Hill, the former chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, hit the nail on the head when he highlighted this fact: The driver of either the car or truck was a factor in 88% of all truck-involved crashes, according to three decades of data.
There was purpose in holding the press conference in the shadow of the Capitol Dome. Congress is drafting legislation to renew the highway program and strengthen trucking safety.
Federal legislators have been handed a comprehensive blueprint to guide their deliberations.
