Senior Reporter
FMCSA Estimates Commercial Vehicle Safety Inspections Saved 472 Lives in 2012
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Feb. 29 released an annual analysis that estimates that commercial vehicle roadside safety inspection and traffic enforcement programs saved 472 lives in 2012.
Since 2001, the programs have saved more than 7,000 lives, according to FMCSA.
“Over the last several decades, we’ve made tremendous strides in reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries on our nation’s roadways,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “The roadside safety inspection and traffic enforcement programs exemplify our commitment to continue to raise the bar on safety and build upon our progress.”
But Rob Abbott, senior vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, said the report actually shows that the number of lives saved has decreased to 472 in 2012 from 735 in 2002.
Abbott also said that the agency does not separately track the impact of traffic enforcement on highways.
ATA supports increasing traffic enforcement, which it believes has a greater impact on traffic safety.
FMCSA’s annual Roadside Intervention Effectiveness Model analysis estimates that in 2012 — the most recent year in which data are available — the safety programs also prevented nearly 9,000 injuries from more than 14,000 crashes involving large commercial trucks and buses.
“Our analysis demonstrates that inspectors at roadside and state troopers conducting traffic enforcement are making a vital difference to prevent crashes,” FMCSA acting Administrator Scott Darling said in a statement.
Annually, more than 3.5 million roadside inspections are conducted, the agency said.
Commercial vehicles that fail inspections are immediately placed out of service, and those commercial drivers who are not compliant with critical safety requirements also are not permitted to continue driving.
FMCSA developed the RIEM analysis to annually analyze and measure the effectiveness of these roadside safety inspections and traffic enforcement programs and activities in terms of crashes avoided, injuries prevented and lives saved. The ultimate focus of the enforcement efforts is to change behavior by the carrier and/or the commercial driver to operate in compliance with federal safety regulations leading to a reduction in crashes involving commercial motor vehicles.
