“Distracted driving absolutely is rising, and it’s problematic,” Jim Mullen, FMCSA general counsel, told. Truckers also spend long periods of time in interstate traffic bottlenecks near major cities, where distracted driving from smartphone use can lead to crashes. “For a large truck, it’s not easy to stop.” “You’re driving at highway speeds, and all of the sudden it comes upon you that there’s a traffic stop ahead,” Van Steenburg said. At least 38 percent of truck drivers killed in 2017 were not wearing seat belts, said Jack Van Steenburg, chief safety officer of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.ĭrowsy driving is another factor, he said, especially in work zones, where heavy-duty trucks are responsible for 3 in 10 crashes. DRIVING BEHAVIORSĭistracted driving, excessive speed and lack of seat belt use contribute to trucking deaths, just as they do to deaths of passenger car occupants. “Commercial drivers must be well-trained, well-rested and drug- and alcohol-free,” said Lane Kidd, managing director of the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security, adding that more effective drug tests are needed.Ībout 1 in 7 applicants for trucking jobs cannot pass a drug test, according to the National Transportation Institute.Ī record number of truck drivers, 840, died on the job in 2017, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The labor bureau data also showed that for the fifth consecutive year, overdose deaths at work from nonmedical drugs and alcohol increased at least 25 percent. “This includes having policies and training in place to address the major causes of fatalities and injuries.” DRUG ISSUE
“All employers need to take a systematic approach to safety,” the nonprofit National Safety Council said in a statement Tuesday.
Logging workers, pilots and aircraft engineers, and roofers all had death rates higher than trucking but recorded far fewer deaths because those industries are smaller. The fishing industry had 99.8 deaths per 10,000 workers, the highest rate of any occupation. Trucking as a profession had 26.8 deaths per 10,000 workers, compared with 3.5 deaths per 10,000 for all professions. Heavy-duty truck fatalities rose 3 percent in 2017 compared with 2016. An October report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that traffic fatalities involving large trucks rose 9 percent year over year to the highest level in 29 years. The labor bureau data are in line with other data that show an increase in the number of deaths involving trucking.
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