NTSB again calls for mandatory data recorders

[kscarbel2]

Fleet Owner / July 15, 2015

In its formal report regarding the investigation of a horrific truck-motorcoach collision last year that killed 10 people outside Orland, CA, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is again recommending that event data recorders (EDRs) be installed on commercial vehicles.

“With access to event data recorders, we might have been able to determine why the truck crossed the median, which could have enabled us to make recommendations to prevent it from happening again,” NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart in his remarks at agency’s crash briefing yesterday.

“Much of the reason that aviation is so safe today is that we have required such recorders for decades so that we can learn the lessons of accidents,” he added. “But they are still not required in commercial trucks or motorcoaches despite more than a decade of recommendations by the NTSB.”

Mark Rosenker, who served as NTSB chairman from 2005 to 2009, stressed a similar point during a presentation at the 2015 ALK Transportation Technology Summit back in May.

“Accidents never involve only one thing; they are a chain of events that come together for a catastrophic result,” he explained. “Thus the NTSB’s mission is to establish what happened, how it happened, determine the probable cause, and make sure it never happens again. And that’s where data can make a really big difference.”

In the Orland crash that occurred on April 10, 2014, NTSB determined that a 2007 Volvo truck-tractor operated by FedEx Freight crossed a 58-foot-wide median, struck a 2013 Nissan Altima four-door passenger car, and then collided head-on with a 2014 Setra motorcoach.

Both the truck and the motorcoach drivers were killed, along with eight motorcoach passengers, while 37 motorcoach passengers and two occupants of the passenger car sustained injuries.

NTSB said its Investigators were unable to determine why the truck crossed the median, but they ruled out both truck and motorcoach driver inexperience, licensing and training, as well as alcohol and drug use, mechanical factors, and weather as causes of the crash.

Likewise, the agency said it found no evidence that the truck driver suffered from distraction, fatigue, or that he intentionally crossed into opposing traffic.

Along with its renewed call for mandatory EDRs on trucks and motorcoaches, NTSB offered several other recommendations:

• That motorcoach interiors be designed with improved flammability requirements;
• That current motorcoach safety standards lack adequate requirements for emergency lighting and signage and should be beefed up to require independently powered lighting fixtures, use of photo luminescent material to mark emergency exits, and windows that remain open after being opened for emergency evacuations;
• That motorcoach companies provide a pre-trip safety briefing or video concerned safety and evacuation procedures;
• That a secondary door be installed on motorcoaches for use as an emergency exit to expedite evacuations and reduce the potential for injuries caused by jumping from window exits.

[jackb61sx]

I believe trucks should have them installed on trucks this day in age, they are powerful tools in the event of an accident and speaking first hand. My father was involved in an unfortunate accident when a car pulled out in front of him and he struck them with his pickup killing them instantly, he was beside himself over it and the Ma State Police down loaded the black box from his truck and that and the witness and physical evidence showed he did everything possible to stop and avoid them but to no avail, also the 80 page report detailed his reaction time to the accident and all that was gained from the Black box. They don't hurt you if your doing all thing right.

[HeavyGunner]

Aren't the electronic logs like peoplenet that are soon to be required be considered data recorders since they record EVERYTHING you do? Jack, recorders like peoplenet don't hurt you if you are doing everything right but they are a real PITA when it comes to desk jockeys and bean counters questioning your every move and you have to try and figure out what you were doing the previous month on that exact day so you can explain what exactly you were doing. I hate that part of it. I go into fields (literally) to pick up my load. Weather will dictate how you drive to get to the load. We have 4 way lockers, 10sp and a DD15 and I gross 131k, if it's rainy chained up and lots of go pedal and wheel spin compared to dry days. Peoplenet's event data log marks "sudden deceleration" recorded whenever you let off the throttle when spinning in mud or on snow and ice. I have to explain (as well as all the other employees) to people up the food chain and in another state from me what's going on. They never seem to get it and I feel that I am always under a microscope being scrutinized by people who have never done or seen my job or workplace and don't understand that we run 365 days a year no matter what the weather is. I do understand where it can save your butt but I always cringe whenever any kind new laws come out for truckers because it always bites us in the ass some how someway.

[jackb61sx]

I think there talking about from the NTSB'S view black box's like planes have, that's how I read it, not the electronic log books. With the box's in the event of an accident they can piece together what was going on prior to an event, That was how I read it.,,,,,,Jack

[HeavyGunner]

I think there talking about from the NTSB'S view black box's like planes have, that's how I read it, not the electronic log books. With the box's in the event of an accident they can piece together what was going on prior to an event, That was how I read it.,,,,,,Jack

And thats exactly what the electronic logs that we run do. They plug right into the trucks ecm and log everything you do, what gear your in, if your seat belt is on what rpm your running, your avg and current fuel mpg. I'm not sure if other elogs do all that but ours does so I guess my point is IF other elogs record everything like the one I run does isn't this new push for yet another recording device redundant?