Soccer Dad: Keep on truckin'

February 25, 2007

Keep on truckin'

A number of years ago the Baltimore Sun had an editorial about Maryland's Shock Trauma unit. The editorial called for changes at the hospital because of the higher mortality rate than at other hospitals in Maryland. (IIRC, changes were instituted subsequent to that time.) What struck me, though, was that the argument was phony. Of course the mortality rate will be higher at Shock Trauma, that's where more severely injured patients are taken. The reason was so obvious, why didn't the editorial writers consider it.

Reading this editorial on truck safety has me asking a similar question.

Large trucks are a growing presence on America's highways -- and a growing cause of traffic fatalities. Between 1995 and 2005, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes grew by more than 10 percent. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 5,212 people died in truck-involved crashes in 2005 and speeding was a common factor.

I don't know much about trucking but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that from 1995-2005 the number of large trucks on the highway or the number of miles travelled (or both) increased by at least 10%, making an increase of 10% understandable. In other words, again, this is data that proves nothing. Presented out of context I have no way of knowing if this increase is, by itself, a crisis that needs to be addressed.

A proposal under review by the U.S. Department of Transportation would require all speed governors on trucks weighing more than 13 tons to be set no higher than 68 miles per hour. It was filed by the safety advocacy group, Road Safe America, and a coalition of 10 major trucking companies.
The plan makes a lot of sense. There's no good reason for trucks to travel any faster, and it's not uncommon for large carriers to restrict vehicles in their own fleets anyway. Trucks that travel at reasonable speeds are not only safer but more fuel efficient and cheaper to operate.

I'm not convinced that this is a great idea. The speed governor sounds like a great idea, but as the editorial notes later

It's not because trucks speed more often than cars (they don't) but because the consequences of an out-of-control, 80,000-pound truck are so much worse than with a 3,000-pound car.

Exactly, physics is at play in truck accidents. But it's not just in accidents, it's at play when a truck is travelling normally. Ever head down a grade and notice that the truck that was comfortably behind you is right on your bumper as you reach the bottom? A truck driver uses hills. On the way down he'll let gravity do some of the work. Restricting the maximum speed could interfere with this and make driving somewhat less safe.

I'm writing this as survivor of a truck accident. Miraculously we were pushed accross an empty lane of traffic off the road into tall grass instead of toward the Jersey wall. We weren't crushed either. The problem, though, wasn't the truck's speed. It was its blind spot.

If there are ways to make transportation safer, I'm all for it. I'm just not convinced that the speed governor is as risk free as the editors of the Sun feel it is.

Blogdigger tags: Trucking, Speed Governor, Accidents.