IST Statement on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recently released National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) includes several salient steps to make trucking safer in the United States. Importantly, the report reminds the public that fatalities involving large trucks have been increasing at a much faster rate during the last decade than fatalities overall.

The Institute for Safer Trucking (IST) commends the DOT for including these two key departmental actions to enable safer commercial motor vehicles:

  • Initiate a rulemaking to require Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) technologies on heavy trucks.

  • Issue a final rule to upgrade existing requirements for rear impact guards on newly manufactured trailers and semi-trailers.

IST recommends two additional actions that the Department of Transportation can take to further enhance truck safety as part of the Safe System Approach:

  • SAFER SPEEDS: Require the use of speed limiters in class 7 & 8 trucks (weighing more than 26,000 pounds) to be set at 65 mph (or 70 mph with the use of automatic emergency braking and lane departure warning).

Since the late 1990s, large trucks in the U.S. have been equipped with speed limiting technology. By requiring large trucks in the United States to set their speed limiters, the DOT would produce immediate results in their approach to safer speeds.

  • POST-CRASH CARE: Increase the minimum financial responsibility for For-Hire Interstate General Freight Carriers from $750,000 to account for inflation and then index the new amount every five years.

Secretary Buttigieg is empowered under Section 31139(b)(1) of title 49 to increase the minimum insurance for interstate motor carriers. By doing so, he will demonstrate his commitment to post-crash care while also elevating the safety of the trucking industry.

The Institute for Safer Trucking along with our community of survivors and families of truck crash victims look forward to collaborating with Secretary Buttigieg and other stakeholders to achieve these safety goals. Trucking is essential to our nation, but we should not and cannot accept the thousands of deaths and injuries resulting from truck crashes each year.  

From ISTHarry AdlerInstitute for Safer Trucking, automatic emergency braking, speed limiters