Truckers Talk Safety On Area Interstates
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specialized hauling
msaks@ectts.com - specialized hauling
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The emissions saga continues..the gloves are off
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To the Trucking Industry:
We had a decade to prepare for 2010 emissions standards and all but one heavy-duty trucking manufacturer invested the time, money and brainpower to develop the best technology to meet stringent new requirements. All but one manufacturer, Navistar, came to the same solution that would best serve you, our trucking industry customers of North America.
Although we're competitors, the rest of us understood the importance of the larger cause, and we worked together to do our part to improve air quality for the safety of future generations. How can Navistar claim it's concerned about the environment while its proposed 2010 product spews two and a half times the 2010 NOx standard into the air we breathe every day?
Manufacturers, suppliers, government agencies and associations invested time and resources to develop innovations to achieve the emissions goal in spite of economic challenges because we know it's the right thing to do.
Navistar is selling thousands of pre-2010 engines, while the rest of the industry is selling EPA 2010-certified products. Navistar apparently has no EPA-compliant emissions technology for 2010 and beyond, at least nothing that does not use credits to achieve compliance.
Don't trucking industry customers of North America deserve better?
We believe you do. And, as an industry that prides itself on professionalism, integrity and honesty, we have every reason to demand the same of Navistar.
Learn more about SCR and watch real customers discuss the benefits of this technology, or see our full-page ad in the August 9th edition of Transport Topics for our complete statement on this issue.
Respectfully,
Daimler Trucks North America LLC
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finally government legislation that might actually help the trucking industry
Senate Bill Would Allow Heavier Trucks
From Transport TopicsMeasure Backed by ATA, Shippers’ Group
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said in introducing the Safe Efficient Transportation Act that states would be allowed to “opt in” and increase their weight limits to 97,000 pounds.
The legislation is identical to a bill introduced in the House last March by Reps. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) and would require the new, heavier trucks to have six axles in order to diffuse the added weight.
“This bipartisan legislation strikes the right balance between productivity and safety,” Kohl said in a statement.
The bill is backed by American Trucking Associations and the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, a shippers’ group, the two said in statements Thursday.
“ATA supports a number of reforms to federal truck size and weight regulations as part of our Sustainability Initiative,” said ATA President Bill Graves.
“More efficient trucks, like those allowed under this legislation, will significantly reduce the trucking industry’s carbon output,” he said in a statement.
Senate Bill Would Allow Heavier Trucks | Transport Topics Online | Trucking, Freight Transportation and Logistics News
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The Associated Press: NHTSA: New technology can prevent truck rollovers
NHTSA: New technology can prevent truck rollovers
WASHINGTON — Stability control systems already on the market for tractor trailer trucks — including tank trucks hauling hazardous loads — could prevent nearly 3,500 rollover accidents and save an estimated 106 lives a year if they were required on trucks, a federal safety official said Tuesday.
Nathaniel Beuse, director of crash avoidance standards at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said his estimate was based on tests of the stability systems the agency conducted with researchers from the University of Michigan. The study found almost 4,400 injuries a year could be prevented with the systems.
All new passenger vehicles are required to have stability control systems, but not commercial trucks even though trucks represent a disproportionate share of rollover accidents.
NHTSA hopes to complete studies on the potential benefits of requiring the systems for tractor trailer trucks before the end of the year, Beuse told a hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board.
"It's just a really powerful technology," said Michigan researcher John Woodrooffe, a co-author of the study. "It actually overrides the driver when it thinks he's going too fast even if he has his foot on the (gas) pedal."
Tractor-trailer drivers often have no warning they're about to roll over, Woodrooffe said in an interview.
"A truck driver can be perfectly happy going around a corner thinking everything is OK and suddenly he's over," Woodrooffe said
The safety board is holding a two-day hearing examining whether enough is being done to prevent tank trucks from rolling over. Tank trucks, more than other trucks, are susceptible to rollovers because the weight distribution of the liquid they carry can shift suddenly, causing an imbalance.
Tank trucks represent 6 percent of large trucks, but they account for 31 percent of all fatal commercial truck rollover crashes.
Tank trucks pose a special concern because they often haul hazardous cargo. The hearing was prompted by an accident in Indianapolis last October in which a tractor truck towing a tank loaded with propane ran off a busy interstate where it intersected with a second interstate, struck a guardrail and exploded. The giant fireball could be seen miles away.
The trailer slammed into a bridge abutment, separating the pillar from the bridge. Five people were injured, but no one was killed.
Loads are dispatched on tank trucks more than 100,000 times a day in the U.S. There are, on average, 1,265 cargo tank truck rollovers annually, the Battelle study said.
Stability control systems employ sensors that tell the vehicle's onboard computer when weight is shifting or is about to shift. The computer automatically applies brakes to one or more wheels to compensate until balance is restored.
There are several kinds of stability control systems. It would cost about $1,200 to retrofit an existing tank truck with the most effective and expensive of the systems, a panel of technical experts told the board. The technology adds less than $1,000 to the price of a new truck, they said.
The systems became commercially available about five years ago. Some manufacturers are now including them as standard equipment on new tank trailers.
However, Neil Voorhees, safety director for Trimac Transportation Systems, a national trucking company headquartered in Houston, said trucking companies are buying the systems at a slow rate.
"Until the government steps up in this area, we're missing a golden opportunity," said Voorhees, whose company has been buying the systems. Trimac has seen its rollover accidents drop from 11 a year to one a year thanks to the systems, he said.
The Associated Press: NHTSA: New technology can prevent truck rollovers
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