WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that trucks over 10,000 lbs. be required to come equipped with driver monitoring systems following a report determining that a trucker’s inattention led to a crash that killed six people in 2023.
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The crash occurred when a Freightliner truck operated by a driver employed by Mid-State Systems, Inc. traveling on westbound I-70 near Etna, Ohio, failed to slow for a line of traffic caused by an earlier crash.
The collision into the rear of the queue triggered a chain-reaction collision and fire that spread to the other vehicles, according to the report, killing three school children on a bus and three people in a passenger vehicle. More than 40 others were injured.
“We’ve seen this crash scenario far too often – and it’s preventable,” said NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy in a statement.
“Proven technologies can warn drivers of slowed traffic and prevent collisions before they happen. What’s needed are stronger vehicle safety standards, better traffic incident management and swift action on our recommendations. Lives depend on it.”
In addition to recommending that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration require driving monitoring systems in trucks, NTSB reiterated a previous but unfulfilled recommendation to NHTSA that the regulator develop and apply, as soon as possible, “performance standards and protocols for the assessment of forward collision avoidance systems in commercial vehicles.”
Red flags at roadside
According to NTSB’s report, the 60-year-old male truck driver had been subject to three roadside inspections while employed with Mid-State Systems:
- March 2021: Inspector cited numerous issues with his truck’s brake system and placed the vehicle out of service.
- March 2022: The driver was stopped for driving 75 mph in a 60-mph zone. The inspection report noted that the driver had his mobile phone open and that a video game was loaded and visible. The driver denied that he was using the game application while driving.
- May 2022: His truck was observed swerving left and right out of its lane. The inspection discovered that three days previous the driver had exceeded the daily 14-hour driving window hours-of-service rule by one hour.
Between 2003 and 2022, records also reveal that the truck driver had nine traffic violations (while driving both commercial and noncommercial vehicles) that included speeding, following too closely, and failing to obey traffic signs.
His most recent medical examination showed he was being treated for diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Alerts to ATA, OOIDA
NTSB also recommended that the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association inform their members about the safety benefits of collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and driver monitoring systems, as well as the risks involved in opting out of purchasing such systems when offered by manufacturers.
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