In a report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week, driver fatigue was again identified as the primary cause of a tragic trucking accident.
The NTSB report arose out of the investigation of the 2005 Wisconsin collision between a bus and a semi-truck. The results of the investigation showed that the Whole Foods truck driver was suffering from fatigue at the time of the collision and most likely fell asleep. The NTSB concluded that the semi-truck driver likely fell asleep, resulting in the truck jackknifing and overturning on the westbound lane of I-94 near Osseo, Wisconsin. The report concluded that the bus, carrying the Chippewa Falls High School band, did not have enough time to react and slammed into the tractor-trailer. Five people were killed and another 35 people were injured.
NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker stated the following:
"Human fatigue has been a persistent factor in far too many transportation accidents. And if anything, the problem is growing not shrinking. More needs to be done to reverse the trend so fewer of these tragic accidents come before the Safety Board."
Truck driver fatigue is the single leading cause of semi-truck accidents. The NTSB has made the following recommendations:
To the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
- Develop and implement a plan to deploy technologies in commercial vehicles to reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents.
- Develop and use a methodology that will continually assess the effectiveness of the fatigue management plans implemented by motor carriers, including their ability to improve sleep and alertness, mitigate performance errors, and prevent incidents and accidents.
To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
- Determine whether equipping commercial vehicles with collision warning systems with active braking and electronic stability control systems will reduce commercial vehicle accidents. If these technologies are determined to be effective in reducing accidents, require their use on commercial vehicles.
The full NTSB investigative press release follows.
Washington, D.C. - Today the NTSB determined that human fatigue was the probable cause of a truck-tractor semitrailer rollover accident that resulted in a subsequent collision of a motorcoach with the overturned truck, killing five and injuring thirty-five on the motorcoach.
"Human fatigue has been a persistent factor in far too many transportation accidents. And if anything, the problem is growing not shrinking," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker. "More needs to be done to reverse the trend so fewer of these tragic accidents come before the Safety Board."
Just before 2 a.m. on October 16, 2005, a truck-tractor semitrailer traveling westbound on the I-94 highway near Osseo, Wisconsin, departed the right-hand lane and traveled along the earthen roadside before re-entering the highway where it overturned, coming to rest on its right side and blocking both westbound lanes. About a minute later, a chartered 55-passenger motorcoach, carrying members of a high school band, and traveling at highway speeds crashed into the underside of the overturned truck. The motorcoach driver and four passengers were fatally injured. Thirty-five passengers received minor to serious injuries, and five passengers were not injured. The truck driver received minor injuries.
The Safety Board determined that the driver of the truck- tractor semitrailer was fatigued and fell asleep at the wheel because he did not use his off-duty time to obtain sufficient sleep to safely operate the vehicle. With the low-light conditions of a dark night, the motorcoach driver was unable to see the truck blocking the travel lanes in time to avoid the collision.
The Safety Board also found that had the truck been equipped with technologies to detect fatigue, the systems might have prevented or mitigated the severity of the accident. And had the motorcoach been equipped with a collision warning system with active braking, the severity of the accident may have been significantly reduced.
"In this tragic accident, we can clearly see how the advanced vehicle safety technologies, some of which are already fully developed and in use, could have made a big difference here," said Rosenker. "This Board is going to continue to be a strong advocate for the implementation of technologies that can actually prevent such terrible accidents from ever occurring."
Just last year the Safety Board added "Enhanced Vehicle Safety Technology to Prevent Collisions" to its List of Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements, or Most Wanted List. Among the advanced safety technologies that the Board believes will help reduce accidents are adaptive cruise control and collision warning systems. This report goes further to include active braking and electronic stability control as additional tools to help drivers remain in control of their vehicles.
As a result of the accident, the NTSB made the following safety recommendations:
To the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
- Develop and implement a plan to deploy technologies in commercial vehicles to reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents.
- Develop and use a methodology that will continually assess the effectiveness of the fatigue management plans implemented by motor carriers, including their ability to improve sleep and alertness, mitigate performance errors, and prevent incidents and accidents.
To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
- Determine whether equipping commercial vehicles with collision warning systems with active braking and electronic stability control systems will reduce commercial vehicle accidents. If these technologies are determined to be effective in reducing accidents, require their use on commercial vehicles.
An additional safety recommendation was made to the Whole Foods Market Group, Inc., regarding the implementation of a comprehensive fatigue education program for its drivers to help them manage the risks of fatigue.
The Safety Board also reiterated the following safety recommendations:
To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
- Complete rulemaking on adaptive cruise control and collision warning system performance standards for new commercial vehicles. At a minimum, these standards should address obstacle detection distance, timing of alerts, and human factors guidelines, such as the mode and type of warning. (H-01-06)
- After promulgating performance standards for collision warning systems for commercial vehicles, require that all new commercial vehicles be equipped with a collision warning system. (H-01-07)
A synopsis of the Board's report, including the probable cause and recommendations, is available at ntsb.gov under "Board Meetings." The Board's full reports will be available on the website in several weeks.
On October 30, 2008, a Semi-Truck crashed into an SUV, pushing it into the rear of another semi-truck. The accident occurred near Highway 11, west of Highway DD, in Spring Prairie Township, in Walworth County. As the photograph of the SUV illustrates, the collision essentially pinned the SUV between the two semi-trucks.