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The many industries that make up the world of freight transport have changed tremendously over the past few decades. Each week FreightWaves searches the archives of American Shipper's nearly 70-year-old collection of shipping and maritime publications to uncover interesting cargo stories from a long time ago.
The following is an excerpt from the December 2006 issue of American Shipper (pages 64-65).
Law enforcement agencies should turn their attention to passenger cars as, contrary to public perception, truck safety records continue to improve and cars are responsible for the vast majority of multi-vehicle accidents, the chief executive of the largest US truck told House Panel in September.
And within the trucking industry, enforcement should be similarly targeted at the small trucking company that is most at risk of non-compliance, Schneider National chief executive officer Christopher Lofgren said in prepared statements ahead of the highway for transportation and infrastructure, transit and pipeline subcommittee.
Truckers continue to be selected for review, despite the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2004 data covering only 3.8% of all accidents and 8% of all fatal accidents involving a large truck, Lofgren said.
“This means that more than 97% of all accidents are caused by a non-commercial or small commercial driver. It is overwhelmingly clear that government security policy should focus on these two segments, ”Lofgren said.
“Due to their size and relative sophistication, the large fleets receive a disproportionately large amount of attention when it comes to regulation. That convenience is bad public order as the large fleets are safe given their size and track record.
“It is therefore important to apply the rules consistently across the industry. That means the government needs to make sure enforcement is possible in the small, hard-to-track fleets before new regulations are enacted, ”he said.
Safety investments account for about 10% of total trucking costs for large fleets, said Lofgren, whose own company has equipped its tractors with 14 different safety technologies at a cost of $ 7,500 per unit since 1984. Only one of these technologies, anti-lock braking systems, was required by law.
Schneider National of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is evaluating seven safety technologies, including collision avoidance and lane departure warning systems.
The fact that safety technologies offer additional benefits such as improved fuel efficiency and driver satisfaction means that "market forces can be trusted to keep the industry safe," said Lofgren.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is working with truck manufacturers to incorporate promising onboard safety systems into their vehicles, Administrator John Hill recently said at a transport table lunch sponsored by Traffic World in Washington. These technologies include:
- Stability control systems, which are around 40,000 trucks and have a 20% decrease in rollover.
- Automatic braking systems that throttle the engine and apply the brakes.
- Forward collision avoidance systems that are installed in around 75,000 commercial vehicles and have a 21% reduction in rear-end collisions.
- Adaptive cruise control coupled with a forward warning system that can slow the vehicle down.
- Lane departure warning systems to prevent drifting, which are used in around 20,000 units and can reduce rollover by 24% and lane departure accidents by 23%.
However, air carriers are penalized for voluntarily investing in systems to improve safety and productivity as the federal excise tax is structured. The burden is exacerbated by additional environmental and safety regulations, Lofgren complained.
Excise tax is 12.5% of the purchase price of a new vehicle, including the cost of additional systems. For years, heavy truck prices remained unchanged, even as vehicles improved and truck drivers received low trade-in rates to offset the cost of regulatory compliance. But the demand, the low prices for used trucks and the high material costs drove up the prices for trucks and thus also the tax payments in the late 1990s.
Lofgren's biggest gripe is federal emissions regulations that require new trucks to have cleaner engines in 2007, adding $ 18,500 to the five-year life cycle cost of an average truck.
"The industry is practically taxed three times on every piece of equipment: once in the purchase price, once in the excise duty on the purchase price and once through increased operating costs of the equipment," said Lofgren.
He called on Congress to grant tax breaks for federally prescribed equipment costs.
Lofgren also called for a return to a national speed limit, saying it was the most important thing the federal government can do to improve road safety.
When states lowered speed limits to 55 mph in 1974, there was a dramatic decrease in the accident rate and about 4,000 fewer deaths. States that increased congressional speed limits after 1987 saw road deaths rise 21%.
Lofgren did not specify what the speed limit should be. In an interview, Don Osterberg, Schneider's vice president for safety and driver training, said he had recommended that the company support a maximum speed of 100 km / h.
Reducing speed is becoming increasingly important as the number of freeway miles traveled increases each year and freeway infrastructure is expanded only marginally to reduce congested lanes, according to safety experts.
"We (the trucking industry) point out that we've had a pretty good track record of continually improving the reduction in deaths, but we need a breakthrough reduction," said Osterberg. “The correlation between speed, accident frequency and severity is irrefutable. If we all slow down vehicles, I absolutely believe that it will lower accident rates and save lives. "
A national speed limit also makes sense because it will help reduce dependence on foreign oil and protect the environment by reducing emissions, Osterberg added.
Downward speed limit changes are likely to be unpopular with the public because they want the freedom to regulate their behavior. Osterberg said he had no illusion that politicians would make the issue a priority, but that strong leadership could convince people that reducing the speed is in the national interest.
The mechanical control of the speed of trucks is done in conjunction with a national driving law "to ensure the speed limit is not exceeded excessively," he said.
FMCSA recently launched a program that allows states to use up to 5% of their grants for enforcement of vehicle carriers for non-commercial vehicle activities.
According to a study by the Ministry of Transport on the measures that trigger accidents with cars and trucks, 57% are caused by motorists. A study by Virginia Tech showed greater inequality, with truck drivers responsible for only 30% of fatal accidents.
Washington State is using the funds for an initiative where soldiers with video cameras ride in trucks, record violations, and radio in front of a patrol car to stop traffic, Hill said.
The enforcement initiative is primarily used in high crash corridors and provides strong evidence in court, Hill said. The program aims to raise awareness of the dangerous driving habits of motorists near trucks and reduce accidents, he said.
The FMCSA is also developing an improved security analysis system to identify unsafe carriers, Hill said. Currently, law enforcement agencies and shippers can use the agency's online SafeStat system to obtain information about an airline's safety data and measure its safety suitability against the rest of the industry. Regulators would prefer statistics that show safety issues before and not after accidents, he said.
Federal and state officials carry out around 3 million road inspections every year. However, they are volatile and FMCSA would like to introduce more extensive surveillance of airlines. Hill has proposed 80,000 to 100,000 on-site compliance checks per year, compared to 10,000 to 12,000 facility visits now, and hopes to receive funding for the expanded program in the next highway spending bill.
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