Security & Safety Briefs — September 14 - September 20
- NHTSA Wants Stability Controls on Cars
- Sleep Apnea Screening of Truckers Urged
- PHMSA Boosts Hazmat Registration Fees
- Sleep Apnea Screening of Truckers Urged
NHTSA Wants Stability Controls on Cars
Automakers would have to install electronic stability control systems on all passenger cars and trucks by the 2012 model-year under a proposed rule released last week that regulators said may save at least 10,000 lives a year.Installation of the systems, which use sensors to monitor vehicle movement and steering and can help prevent rollover accidents, would start with 2009 models, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Sept. 14.
Automakers already have begun to comply with a mandate for the technology, which the Washington-based safety agency in February said it planned to propose.
Ford Motor Co. said the controls will be standard on all its vehicles by the end of 2009, and General Motors Corp. will have the systems in all vehicles by the end of the decade.Transport Topics
Sleep Apnea Screening of Truckers Urged
Recommendations released last week by a joint task force of several national medical organizations call for more screening of sleep apnea among truck drivers.The American College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the National Sleep Foundation released their recommendations Sept. 12.
“Sleepiness and inattention contribute to a significant number of . . . crashes each year, and [sleep apnea] has been shown to significantly increase a driver’s risk of driving drowsy,” said Nancy Collop, of the ACCP’s sleep institute.
“Yet, current screening and treatment procedures for [sleep apnea] are ambiguous and not reflective of the latest advancements in the diagnosis and management,” she said.
The findings were published in a supplement to the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Transport Topics
PHMSA Boosts Hazmat Registration Fees
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced it was boosting its federal registration fee by $1,000 for hazmat haulers to pay for additional training for first responders.PHMSA said it was increasing the fees to $2,975, from $1,975, plus a $25 administrative fee to fund the national hazardous materials emergency preparedness grants program.
PHMSA said the increase was necessary because the Bush administration’s fiscal 2007 budget calls for the program to dispense $28 million in grants to “develop, improve and carry out emergency plans.”
PHMSA also said it was eliminating the option to register by telephone, because the number of telephone registrations has steadily declined as more fleets register through the Internet.Transport Topics
