In The News

Driver fatigue on safety list

The National Transportation Safety Board has announced its new list of the most critical transportation issues that need to be addressed to improve safety and save lives, including driver fatigue.

The new “Most Wanted List” highlights 10 safety issues that impact transportation nationwide. “NTSB began issuing an annual “Most Wanted List” in 1990, and the latest list is the first one produced under a revised format developed by the agency over the past several months to modernize and streamline the list.

Among this year’s list are address human fatigue, require safety management systems and require image and onboard data recorders.

“I was pleased to see the board and ATA share some of the same views on ways to make highways safer for all motorists,” said Bill Graves, American Trucking Associations president and chief executive officer.

“ATA shares many of the observations on driver fatigue,” Graves said. “Hours-of-service regulations must be science-based, and hours-of-service regulations alone – though necessary – are an insufficient solution.”

Graves said ATA long has called for more effective measures to address driver fatigue, such as development of fatigue management plans and driver sleep disorder screening programs. “Most recently, ATA members adopted a policy supporting a federal mandate of electronic logging devices to monitor hours of service for truck drivers,” he says. “NTSB has long supported such devices to ensure compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations.”

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