Truck and Bus Safety

Commercial truck and bus transport have major economic importance in most of the developed countries. For example, in the United States, the commercial trucking sector alone employs around 10 million people, and its annual revenue is greater than 500 billion [1]. Furthermore, intercity and charter buses in North America carry around 860 million passengers per year, more than are transported by either rail or commercial air carriers [1]. 

This chapter presents various important aspects of truck and bus safety. 

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Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and reduce commercial vehicle-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities. 

Operation Roadcheck The transportation industry is well aware of CVSA s Roadcheck, taking place for three days (72 hours) in early June of each year. The roadside inspection blitz is an intense truck and bus safety inspection effort conducted throughout Canada, Mexico, and the United States focusing on the international roadside inspection program and other commercial vehicle and driver safety programs. It is sponsored by CVSA, FMCSA, and other participating organizations, annually in June of each year. Published results... 

Fitch, G.M., Blanco, M., Camden, M.C., Olson, R.L., McClafferty, J., Morgan, J.F., Wharton, A.E., Howard, H.E., Trimble, T., Hanowski, R.J. Field Demonstration of Heavy Vehicle CameraA ideo Imaging Systems. Report no DOT HS 811 475, Center for Truck and Bus Safety, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, United States (2011)... 

CTBSSP Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program... 

TRB. 2007. The domain of truck and bus safety research. Transportation Research Circular No. E-C117. Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. 

Over the years, various studies have identified many truck and bus safety-related issues. Some of the top ones are as follows [3] ... 

There are many sources in the United States that can be used, directly or indirectly, to obtain truck and bus safety-related data. The main ones are as follows [18] ... 

Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to rail safety and to truck and bus safety, respectively. Chapter 7 covers topics such as causes of railway-related accidents and incidents, general classifications of rail accidents by effects and causes, rail derailment accidents and incidents and their causes, telescoping-related railway accidents, railway accidents in selected countries, railroad tank car safety, and methods for performing rail safety analysis. Some of the topics covered in Chapter 8 are top truck and bus safety issues, truck safety-related facts and figures, the most-cited truck safety-related problems, safety-related truck inspection tips, bus and coach occupant fatalities and serious injuries, transit bus safety and key design-related safety feature areas, and vehicle safety data sources. 

What do we think of when we hear fiber Clothing, certainly, and other textiles such as sheets and blankets, curtains and upholstery. Some fiber goes into carpeting—for offices, homes, automobiles, and recreational vehicles. Automobile, truck, and bus tires are strengthened with the use of fibers called cords. Some fiber is used for industrial purposes such as insulation and filtration. Hollow fibers that act as membranes are used in the desalination of seawater by reverse osmosis and in kidney dialysis. As we have already seen, extremely high-strength fibers are used to make bulletproof safety equipment and to reinforce polymers for high performance ap-... 

To achieve a greater reduction in large truck and bus crashes, injuries, and fatalities by identifying drivers and motor carriers that pose safety problems and intervening to address those problems as soon as they become apparent. 

The sole purpose of the FMCSRs is to help reduce or prevent truck and bus accidents, fatalities, and injuries. The FMCSRs prescribe standards of safety for motor carriers and drivers who operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce. 

Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) contains information on the safety fitness of commercial motor carriers (truck and bus) and hazardous material (HM) shippers subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). This data is used in the Safety Measiirement System (SMS) to arrive at a carrier s scoring for each individual Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Category (BASIC). 

Zaloshnja, E., and T. Miller. 2002. Revised costs of large truck- and bus-involved crashes. Final report. Contract No. DTMC75-01-P-00046. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Washington, D.C. 

Tunnels are confined spaces with a potential for disastrous accidents like truck or bus fires resulting in a high number of casualties. The society expects tunnels on the public road network to be safe, implying that effective safety measures are implemented in order to prevent accidents and the possible severe consequences of accidents. 

The use of motor fleets and bus transportation has increased rapidly during the last four decades. As a matter of fact, trucks transport most of the tonnage moved from one section of the country to another. The trucking industry has enabled all aspects of agriculture to expand their spheres of contact. Recent safety records of buses and trucks have been markedly better than those of previous years based on a number of reasons, such as the certified driver license (CDL) and effective training and educational safety programs for drivers. 

Motor vehicle traffic-related accidents (including bus and truck) are becoming an important transportation issue around the world. Table 8.1 presents data on traffic-accident-related deaths and deaths per 100,000 vehicles in selected countries for 1996 [23]. This clearly shows the importance of increasing the safety standards for trucks and buses. 

The Scania plant at Falun in Sweden manufaetures bus and truck steering knuckles. These are safety-critical components that are specified as having to be crack-free. For this reason, every component is now inspected using an automatic process that ensures the appropiate inspection is consistently canied out to the required standards of quality. Photos of the system are shown in Fig 1. The principle of operation is as follows. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Ms. Deborah M. Frermd, Vehicle and Roadside Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and Operations, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admluistration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001 or by telephone at 202—366—5370. 

SAFETYNET is a system designed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to manage and provide appropriate access to crash data, roadside inspection history and data, and motor carrier and shipper identification information. To do this, SAFETYNET maintains records that include, but are not limited to, truck/bus driver name, Social Security number, license number, and date of birth, and truck/bus driver and company contact information, and vehicle identification numbers. The FMCSA receives these data from designated state officials, either directly into SAFETYNET through paper forms that state data entry representatives enter into the system, or through electronic data upload directly into SAFETYNET. 

Why should the organization of fleet and motor vehicle accident data be an essential and necessary part of your motor transportation safety program The reason is simple accident prevention. Each year thousands of drivers are killed or injured in motor fleet crashes that could have been prevented in one way or another. These accidents affect not only the drivers but each of us as well. Whether you are driving a company car on a business trip, driving a truck that is part of a fleet, or sending a child to school on a school bus, you are involved in motor fleet safety. 

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