Opinion: Driver Choice and Rear-Impact Crashes

By James Scapellato

CEO

Scapellato & Co.

This Opinion piece appears in the April 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Why do cars run into tractor-trailers stopped on the shoulders of roads? How could anyone miss seeing a tractor-trailer? It happens all too frequently.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates that about 450 fatalities and 5,000 injuries occur annually to the occupants of cars involved in rear-impact crashes — and 55% of these unexplained crashes occur during daylight or dawn hours.

Since 1937, the U.S. Department of Transportation has required truckers stopped on the roadway or shoulder to warn motorists. The purpose of the rule is to reduce the frequency and severity of rear-impact crashes by improving motorists’ detection and response to “emergency” stopped vehicles.

Below are three hypothetical rear-impact crashes that underscore the significance of this problem. Which driver do you think caused the crash? You’ll find the answers at the end of this column.

• Crash No. 1: A car driver ran into the back of a tractor-trailer parked on the exit ramp of an interstate highway. The trucker had stopped for a nap without turning on his four-way flashers or putting out warning triangles.

• Crash No. 2: While he was driving, a trucker’s trailer lights went off and then came back on. He pulled his rig to the shoulder to investigate. The driver turned on his four-ways but did not put out triangles. He checked the trailer light coupling and found nothing irregular, which took 10 minutes. While outside the vehicle, he decided to urinate. He was about to put the tractor in gear when his trailer was rear-ended by a drunk driver. The car driver died; his passenger survived.

• Crash No. 3: A trucker began sliding on icy pavement as he descended a steep interstate grade. He came to a stop on the shoulder at the bottom of the hill and chose to stay in his rig with his four-way flashers and heater on for more than 10 minutes. He did not put out his triangles. A seven vehicle pile-up ensued because motorists were sliding into the parked rig.

Automobile crashes into tractor-trailers are horrific. According to the Institute for Highway Safety, in 2009, 70% of the people who died in large truck crashes were car occupants. Crashing into the back of a tractor-trailer at highway speed leaves little chance of walking away.

Federal law holds interstate trucking companies and drivers to a higher standard of care. When truckers are involved in these ghastly crashes, both the carrier and driver instantly become targets for DOT and state enforcement. Court litigation and media scrutiny typically follow.

Truckers are instructed not to park on the roadway or shoulder including entrance and exit ramps unless they have a breakdown, traffic is blocked, or they have been directed by law enforcement. This commandment is covered in Commercial Driver License testing, carrier orientation and in the federal safety rulebook. Yet, truckers violate this simple directive daily. And, despite knowing that federal safety rules require them to immediately turn on their four-way flashers and, as soon as possible but within 10 minutes of stopping, to set up three (positioned correctly) reflective triangles, they also fail to do this.

In more than 12 years of personal observation, I have seen very few drivers get this rule right. Admittedly, the federal rule is difficult to read and apply, especially in emergencies and when that 10-minute clock is ticking.

An 18-wheeler stopped on the roadway or shoulder is indisputably a hazard to motorists, not only while stopped but also while slowing to a stop and when re-entering the highway. Stopping on shoulders is exclusively for emergencies and breakdowns — not for reading, eating, texting, calling, urinating or napping.

Industry data suggest that every vehicle in a carriers’ fleet on average is going to break down at least once a year on the road. In more than 75% of “emergency” stops, FMCSA has determined that the stop lasted greater than 10 minutes.

Given projected increases in trucks and freight, is there a way to reduce rear-impact crashes? I believe the answer rests with the commercial driver who is the “captain of the ship” and responsible for safe operation. Society is being denied the benefits from a federal rule not fully realized because truckers, for various unexplained reasons, are not getting it right.

Motor carriers have the responsibility to invest and support their drivers in obtaining knowledge and skills for safer operation. The industry is rising to the occasion. In this newspaper’s recent iTECH supplement, the periodical discusses the explosion of technology applications that are available to help carriers and drivers achieve compliance with federal safety rules.

Specific to emergency triangle placement, check out Trucker SOS (www.truckersos.com), a cool illustrative inexpensive, smartphone app that walks drivers through getting triangle placement right every time.

Realizing safety benefits where the rubber meets the road is everyone’s responsibility.

Answers:

The trucker was at fault in each instance. Here’s why:

• Crash No. 1 — The trucker was improperly parked and was not experiencing an emergency. While parked, he failed to do his duty, which was to activate his four-way flashers and put out warning triangles.

• Crash No. 2 — The trucker had an emergency that justified the stop, and he correctly put on his four-way flashers. However, because 10 minutes had elapsed, it also was his duty to put out triangles, which he failed to do.

• Crash No. 3 — Icy road conditions justified the stop and the trucker put on his four-way flashers, but he failed to put out the triangles even though 10 minutes had passed.

Scapellato & Co. is a transportation and safety consulting firm based in Mount Pleasant, S.C.