Trucks at Work Blog

“It was a terrible accident, but the judge made the right decision. We must send the message to commercial truckers that they are driving a vehicle that could cause mass destruction. They must heed the warnings.” –District Attorney John Morganelli, on the conviction of truck driver Richard Pedota of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter after falling asleep at the wheel and causing an accident that killed a fellow truck driver

A driver falls asleep at the wheel and causes a major accident, killing a person in the process. If we agree that this is a criminal offense, worthy of punishment by the courts, does it then make sense to alter the severity of the punishment simply based on the type of vehicle operated at the time of the crash?

In my opinion, it doesn’t. If driving while fatigued is considered a dangerous act – worthy of jail time should a crash and subsequent fatality occur as a result – the vehicle being operated should be irrelevant to the discussion.

Yet that isn’t the view of the law at all, it seems. more

“Our findings continue to show the challenges transportation organizations, and those employing commercial drivers, face when monitoring their drivers and trying to meet compliance standards.” –Hayley Hitchcock, director-vertical strategy, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

It’s a study with results no one likes to see, documenting a steep rise not only in truck driver employment application discrepancies but in positive drug tests as well.

Yet while those trend lines are definitely worrisome, they also require a good bit of context to be interpreted fairly – especially as fleets are only now, in the wake of renewed regulatory focus on these areas, really starting to take a hard look the data encapsulated within driver applications.

It must be remembered, too, that a spate of new drug tests with far more sensitive chemical analysis are being used within the industry today – especially ones that test hair follicles for drugs – and thus could be uncovering narcotics use that, until now, had remained hidden from view.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the findings of the LexisNexis Risk Solutions 2011 Commercial Driver Safety Report. more

“We are confident our research advancements will help reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries in automobile crashes – and on the football field.” –Dr. Stefan Duma, principal investigator, Virginia Tech, commenting on crash studies being conducted with the help of the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, MI

It’s not every day you hear about research projects designed to glean more insight about the trauma to the human body dealt by vehicle crashes and football tackles simultaneously. Then again, when you enter facilities like the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) in Ann Arbor, MI, you aren’t in Kansas anymore – literally and figuratively.

Toyota is opening up its TTC more frequently these days to a variety of universities via the automaker’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC); an initiative launched by Toyota this past January with an initial investment of $50 million to pursue automotive safety research through a collaborative model designed to share Toyota’s resources with a variety of institutions.

The company recently green lighted four new research projects via its CRSC effort, as well as forged several new research partnerships with different universities, all aimed at trying to make further advances in vehicle safety technologies, as well as improve how crash testing is conducted in the first place. more

“The number of drivers who engage in potentially dangerous, in some cases extremely dangerous, behaviors while driving is terrifyingly high, particularly when you remember that every 1 percent of drivers polled represents more than one-and-three-quarters of a million people.” –Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, concerning the firm’s latest poll gauging U.S. driver behavior behind the wheel

If you don’t believe there’s enough proof out there concerning the widespread occurrence of distracted driving on our highways (distracted drivers are out there??? REALLY????!!!), below you’ll find another large piece of evidence – extracted from the driving population itself, no less.

According to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll, some 86% of adults admitted to eating/drinking while driving, with 59% saying they talk on a non-hands-free cell phone while driving. Another 41% set or adjust their GPS device while behind the wheel, with another 37% copping to texting while driving.

If that wasn’t enough, a quarter of the respondents in this poll said they have driven after having two or more drinks, with another 44% admitting to feeling sleepy while driving, to the point of “sometimes even momentarily dozing off.” Smaller percentages (7% and 12%, respectively) said they drive this way “sometimes or often.” more

“Although the vast majority of drivers recognize the serious threat of drowsy driving, a ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ attitude exists when getting behind the wheel. Drivers have a tendency to underestimate the impact being tired has on their driving ability, which puts themselves and others at risk.” –Peter Kissinger, AAA Foundation president and CEO

It’s pretty discouraging to discover that while 96% of the motorists recently surveyed by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety feel drowsy driving is an unacceptable behavior, almost a third of those same drivers (32%) admitted to operating a vehicle within the last 30 days when they were so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open.

Add to those worrisome facts these recent AAA Foundation findings: two out of every five drivers (41%) admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel at some point, with one in 10 saying they had done so in the past year.

“What’s so alarming is that over half of these drivers reported having fallen asleep while driving on high‐speed roads,” noted Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy and research in a statement. “This data underscores the importance of educating drivers about the dangers of drowsy driving.” more

“Our engineering teams tested this technology for thousands of miles in many parts of the country to help ensure it performs on a wide range of roads with different lane markings.” –Michael Kane, vehicle engineering supervisor for driver assistance technologies, Ford Motor Co., discussing the company’s new Lane Keeping System

Lane departure warning (LDW) technology is nothing new to the trucking industry – heck, it’s been proven a life and money saver for nearly half a decade now by some fleets. Yet it’s still something of a rarity for the everyday motorist, as up to this point at least, such systems are offered only on pricey luxury vehicles such as those built by Mercedes Benz.

No more, however.

Starting next year, Ford Motor Co., for example, is going to roll out an optional suite of what it calls “lane keeping technologies” on its 2012 model Explorer sport utility vehicle (SUV) – systems that detect drowsy drivers, helps them stay alert and stay within their lane. And I can bet that, over time, this package is going to migrate to other Ford models as well.

[Here’s a video overview of the technologies involved within Ford’s “lane keeping” suite.]

The reason for Ford’s “lane keeping” push – and that of other light vehicle makers as well – is pretty simple: more than 40% of Americans admit to falling asleep or “nodding off” while driving, according to a survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Thus, as you can see, “drowsy driving” is not a problem solely associated with truck drivers – though some in the safety community sure try to paint it that way. more

“Drivers face more challenges on the road today than ever before, from work zones and distracted drivers to CSA and the daily demands of their jobs.” –Fred Andersky, director of government relations, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC

It’s no secret that distractions abound for truck drivers these days – both inside and outside a truck’s cab. Indeed, a variety of truck driver safety courses – like the snippet below from ProTread Instructional Technologies – note that “distracted driving” can often be a greater threat when it occurs among other motorists operating alongside a big rig.

Just consider these numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): In 2009, 20% of all injury crashes involved reports of distracted driving, but the greatest proportion of such behavior occurred within the under-20 age group, of which 16% percent of those in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving.

As we all know, no one under 20 can get their CDL, so those youngsters aren’t maneuvering tractor-trailers with one hand on the wheel whilst texting their friend with the other (thank goodness). Yet such behavior poses a threat to truckers, since a mistake by a distracted teenager can cause a major accident. more

“The pool of new drivers simply doesn’t learn how to shift gears growing up anymore. It’s estimated that upwards of 50% to 60% of the new drivers coming into this industry today don’t know how to shift a manual transmission. Consequently, transmissions must be easier to use, more robust and provide better fuel economy.” –Darry Stuart, president, DWS Fleet Management Services

A few weeks back, I found myself tooling around a short yet wicked little test track at Allison Transmission’s headquarters outside Indianapolis at the helm of a 2011 Peterbilt Model 384 pulling a 48-foot trailer, loaded out at 62,000 pounds.

[Click here to access a photo gallery of the ride and drive even Allison hosted to show off its new TC10 gearbox.]

I call it “wicked” because it’s a narrow track that contains all kinds of sharp hairpin turns – providing quite the maneuvering challenge (fortunately without the added hassle of four-wheelers zooming hither and thither).

I didn’t get much chance to put the tractor’s Paccar MX 455 hp engine though its paces, either, as all the curbs required me to keep under 45 mph most of the time.

So why does any of this matter to you? Well, this particular Model 384 came equipped with Allison’s new TC10 TS automatic transmission, allowing me to fully concentrate on keeping my big rig (for that afternoon, at least) on the blacktop. more

“It’s all part of a process; finding out what works and what doesn’t. And there are always going to be speed bumps along the way.” –Ben Olsen, head coach, D.C. United

One of the many hats I wear in my personal life is that of a youth soccer coach, so needless to say, I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I got the chance to attend a special open practice/coaching clinic event put on by our local major league soccer [MLS] franchise, the D.C. United, this past August.

[Now, bear with me everyone – there’s a trucking tie-in to this story … and a valuable one I think.]

Let me be honest: “good fortune” is an understatement, coming from my perspective. For me and probably a hundred other youth coaches to get an inside “soup-to-nuts” overview of a professional soccer team practice, with an hour or so clinic conducted by D.C. United’s coaching staff – head coach Ben Olsen, with assistants Chad Ashton and Pat Onstad – thrown in for good measure, is like winning the mega-millions lottery. more

“A lack of car maintenance can cause road safety issues and 72% of drivers don’t know how to check their brake fluid. If a car has insufficient brake fluid, air can get into the brake lines and your vehicles ultimately could stop working and cause serious problems, not only for you but also for others.” –Gareth Kloet, head of car insurance for U.K.-based insurance comparison service Confused.com

Forgive the dig at our cousins across the pond, folks, but I just couldn’t resist crafting a title for this post that played off the classic Sex Pistols diatribe Anarchy in the U.K. (and no, thankfully, I’m not going to link to that particular assault on the human ears today!)

Yet you’ve got to admit this title is appropriate, for other response is there when a survey finds that 69% of motorists in the United Kingdom (the traditional – if now frowned upon – moniker that collectively refers to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) have no clue how to check their engine coolant?

Or that 57% of U.K. drivers say they don’t even know how to change a tire, with 47% also unable to even locate the jack, much less properly operate it? more