Every 16 minutes, a life is lost in a tragic traffic crash on American roads. As professional commercial truck drivers, we bear the responsibility of ensuring road safety and reducing these alarming statistics. Collaboration between public and private organizations is crucial in our mission to save lives together.
In 2021, fatal crashes in the United States reached a 16-year high. While there has been a slight decrease of 0.2 percent in rates during the first nine months of 2022 compared to the previous year, our nation’s roadways are still facing a crisis.
To combat this issue, the National Roadway Safety Strategy has introduced a long-term national plan that outlines regulatory measures, safety initiatives, and funding to minimize fatal crashes. At the heart of this strategy is the adoption of the Safe System Approach by the U.S. Department of Transportation, focusing on five key objectives: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, and post-crash care.
The three Es—engineering, education, and enforcement—are vital in reducing collisions. While these principles may seem simple, they can have a significant impact when put into action.
Engineering Safety: Roads, Technology, and Vehicles
Although road conditions and braking capabilities contribute to collisions, nearly 100% of crashes in the U.S. result from human error. Toward Zero Deaths reports this alarming statistic. So, how can we anticipate errors and design roads, vehicles, and technology to minimize accidents?
First, we need to identify the hazards and high-risk areas. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveals that 55% of fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural areas, with only 27% occurring on interstate highways. We should prioritize reworking the infrastructure in these high-collision areas. Implementing proven safety measures like rumble strips, guardrails, and crash cushions can significantly enhance road safety. It is crucial to secure adequate funding for such infrastructure improvements.
The same design concept should extend to vehicles and technology. In-vehicle technology should prioritize proactive safety measures while minimizing distractions. For commercial drivers, streamlining digital tools and devices needed for the job can be a low-hanging solution.
Providing a unified interface for navigation, weather alerts, tire pressure monitoring, messaging, workflows, and intelligent locking to prevent distracted driving is key. Fleet management platforms integrated with driver apps and in-cab tablets empower back-office managers to ensure drivers have the necessary resources to perform their duties efficiently and safely.
Furthermore, advanced machine learning technology incorporated into in-cab coaching devices can intelligently track and detect potential hazards in real time. It can provide proactive alerts to drivers, helping them avoid lane departures, drifts, collisions, and other unsafe behavior. This technology can also identify behavior that frequently leads to crashes, such as speed limit violations, stop sign violations, hard braking, excessive acceleration, and excessive cornering.
Educating for Smarter and Safer Drivers
The responsibility to make our roads safer lies with all of us—safety and compliance officers, government organizations, researchers, advocacy groups, law enforcement, corporations, tech providers, and the general public.
The National Safety Council’s Road to Zero Plan highlights the importance of fostering a “positive safety culture” as a means to reduce roadway fatalities. This culture encourages constructive thought regarding our individual and collective choices.
Commercial fleets have long embraced this safety culture. It is evident in how drivers are prepared for diverse weather events, how they adhere to construction zones, maintain safe distances from other vehicles, and operate safely alongside them.
This culture also promotes a continuous learning mindset. When we identify strategies that work, we must double down on them. Recognizing that humans make mistakes, we design systems and processes to account for those mistakes. For instance, adopting verifiable digital pre- and post-trip inspections has become increasingly common among fleets. These inspections not only help comply with regulations but also foster a safety mindset among drivers. They prove effective in reducing safety risks by addressing maintenance needs before they become significant issues.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is actively studying fleet inspection data and proposing changes to better identify carriers with a high crash risk. Their new methodology separates vehicle maintenance violations observed by mechanics from those identified by drivers during Level 2 roadside inspections. This proposal places greater emphasis on pre- and post-trip inspections in safety scoring, making inspections fairer, more accurate, and more transparent to enhance road safety.
Enforcement: Changing Driver Behavior
Aggressive driving, lack of seatbelt usage, speeding, and distracted or impaired driving are common behaviors that cause injuries on the road. Speeding alone contributes to nearly a third of all motor vehicle fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While preventative safety measures like well-designed infrastructure, educational initiatives, best practice analysis, and in-vehicle technology are essential, they are not sufficient on their own. This is where enforcement plays a crucial role.
Targeted enforcement, backed by technology and data, can effectively address problem areas. Historically, it has successfully curbed two major collision-causing behaviors: seat belt usage and alcohol consumption. Cell phone use while driving is an emerging collision-causing behavior, already prohibited at the federal level for commercial drivers. Closing the gap and extending this prohibition to passenger vehicle drivers is the next logical step. The National Safety Council is calling for action from employers, legislators, drivers, vehicle manufacturers, and smartphone manufacturers to address this issue comprehensively.
While the National Roadway Safety Strategy does not explicitly prioritize enforcement, it is a vital component. Together, enforcement, compliance teams, engineering, and education create a holistic approach to make our roads safer.
The Importance of Public-Private Partnerships
Road safety is an arena where public-private partnerships can make a life-or-death difference. We appreciate the comprehensive and coordinated approach of the National Roadway Safety Strategy. Achieving the ambitious goal of zero annual roadway deaths will require all of us to step up.
The challenges have evolved but the ultimate aim remains unchanged: every life lost is one too many. It is up to each one of us to contribute and help create safer roads. How will you rise to the occasion?
