Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) convened a 2-day panel focusing on ways to reduce truck and bus accidents. Participating in the discussion were federal regulators, safety experts and representatives from both the truck and bus industries.
One of the goals of the panel was to examine the trends relating to truck and bus accidents and discuss ways to reduce the number of accidents. Another area of focus was safety recommendations for buses and trucks. Many recommendations have been made in the past to reduce the frequency of accidents and the injuries that occur in the unfortunate event of an accident. Unfortunately, many of the recommendations have not been acted upon and buses and trucks are still lacking safety features regularly found in automobiles, as explained in this article:
The NTSB has been pushing for years for stronger bus roofs that won’t crush in rollover accidents, better emergency exits, better fire protection and windows that prevent passengers from being ejected.
They also want trucks and buses to have some of the safety technology that’s available on many cars and on buses in other countries. That includes electronic stability control to prevent rollovers, adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts speed to traffic, warning systems that alert drivers when they’re drifting into another lane, and warning systems that alert drivers to an impeding collision.
Bus and truck accidents are a very serious problem and oftentimes result in serious injuries or death. Although some of the recommended changes may be costly to implement, the failure to do so will result in the unnecessary loss of life. For the safety of everyone on the road, let’s hope that some of the recommended safety regulations are enacted.
Howard Ankin of Ankin Law (www.ankinlaw.com) handles workers’ compensation and personal injury cases. Mr. Ankin can be reached at (312) 600-0000 and howard@ankinlaw.com.
Related articles
- Panel to focus on deadly truck, bus accidents (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Fatal Bus Accidents Renew Interest in Safety Bill (abcnews.go.com)
- Congress to renew talk of bus safety regulations following fatal accidents, including one in N.J. (nj.com)
- ‘Technology does exist’ to make buses safer, NTSB chief says (washingtontimes.com)