USDOT Agency Nixes Upgraded Rear Impact Guards
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month rejected that the agency mandate stricter upgrades to rear impact guards on semi-trailers.
By Mike Hitchcock
ICSA Lead Safety Consultant
With the new year already well started, we know our members are already feeling the challenges posed by the current operating environment. We at ICSA share this feeling and want to let you know how your safety association ended the year in 2022 and what our goals are for 2023.
The members whose trucks are in SmartDrive ended 2022 with an overall crash rate of 2.27 per million miles traveled (pmm). This was slightly better than the goal of 2.50 pmm we set at the beginning of the year. The *DOT reportable crash rate was 0.46 per million miles and was just over our goal of 0.45 crashes pmm. Our goal for 2022 was to have members’ combined SmartDrive safety score under 50. Well, the members with SmartDrive cameras installed did great and achieved a score of 36!
For 2023, the ICSA safety team has been challenged by our Board to assist our members to achieve a crash rate under 2.0 pmm and a DOT Crash Rate under 0.38 pmm. To achieve these goals, we must ensure our members are utilizing the valuable data coming from their event recorders. Our goal for 2023 is to continue to educate and coach and drive our score down to under 25! As you know, the main contributor to a high SmartDrive score is excess speed and not enough following distance. Improvements in both areas reduce crashes and improve members’ scores.
ICSA ended the year with over 18,300 trucks in our Risk Purchase Group and roughly 7,500 members. This is fantastic growth and our goal for this year is to grow to 11,000 members and 27,500 trucks while continuing to improve safety! Together we can make the highways safer while we work to change the environment under which you work.
In addition, ICSA will focus on helping members reduce distracted driving by getting every member company to adopt our model distracted driving policy and to encourage use of our free safety training courses available to you on the ICSA website. I want to also remind you that safety consulting is just a phone call or email away and is included in the dues you pay to belong to ICSA. The quickest way to request help is by calling the safety consultant assigned to your region or to email us at safety@safecarriers.org.
Here's to a safe and successful 2023!
*A DOT-recordable accident is one involving a commercial motor vehicle that results in either a fatality, personal injury to any person that requires immediate medical attention away from the scene of the accident or disabling damage to any vehicle that requires it to be towed from the scene.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month rejected that the agency mandate stricter upgrades to rear impact guards on semi-trailers.
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