Today’s highways are crowded with passenger cars, pick-up trucks, SUVs, vans and 18-wheelers – all in a hurry to get somewhere fast. Some types of vehicles are involved disproportionately in accidents that take lives. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons behind crashes involving tractor-trailers and 15-passenger vans.


Tractor-trailers

Truckers are supposed to limit the number of hours they drive in a day. They’re also supposed to check their rigs for mechanical problems and get them fixed before they return to the road.

“But truckers are paid by the mile, not the hour. When they are held up by repairs, traffic or an out-of-service order, they lose money,” said Mike Davis, who litigates transportation-related cases.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that the number of people dying in crashes involving large trucks increased in 2003, while the total number of fatalities from all vehicular accidents was down. Nearly 5,000 persons died in large-truck wrecks in 2003.

“The number is significant in that large trucks amount to just 4% of all registered vehicles, yet the number of deaths from large trucking accidents was 11.58% of the total number of vehicular fatalities,” Davis said.

Fatalities in these accidents are usually the occupants of smaller vehicles. Reports by the National Center for Statistics & Analysis say that 79% of fatalities from large truck accidents in 2002 were occupants of other vehicles, while just 14% were occupants of large trucks.

Weary truck drivers

“One cause of large truck accidents is driver fatigue. Yet, in December 2003, the Bush administration issued new regulations allowing truckers to stay on the road for up to 11 straight hours, one more hour than they had been allowed,” Davis said.

Supported by the American Trucking Association, the new rules were opposed by safety advocates and the truckers’ union.

In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned the rule, calling the changes “arbitrary and capricious.” The panel said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency that had imposed the rules, failed to consider drivers’ health as required by law. The court acted on a suit brought by Public Citizen and highway safety groups.

“We don’t need truckers driving longer. We need enforcement of the rules already in place,” Davis said.

15-passenger vans

15-passenger vans have been exempt from many federal motor-vehicle safety standards because they are not classified either as passenger cars or school buses. Yet these vans continue to carry families, sports teams and school or church groups on outings.

Originally designed to carry cargo, 15-passenger vans were manufactured in the 1970s. Manufacturers did little testing to assess the vans’ handling characteristics and rollover propensity.

“Between 1990 and 2002, there were 1,576 15-passenger vans involved in fatal crashes. Of these, 349 were from single-vehicle rollovers — a startling 22%,” Davis said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sets and enforces safety performance standards and investigates defects in motor vehicles. However, until just recently, the NHTSA has exempted 15-passenger vans from all federal motor vehicle safety standards, in spite of its own warnings and public advisories. Too numerous to list, NHTSA warnings basically say:

• Pre-school and school-aged children should not be transported in 15-passenger vans.
• The risk of rollover increases dramatically with the number of occupants.
• 15-passenger vans with a full passenger load have a rollover rate in single-vehicle crashes that is five times greater than a vehicle containing only a driver.
• Occupants in these vehicles should all wear seat belts.

Telling it like it is

In 2003, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended the NHTSA develop safety standards for these vans in the areas of restraints and occupant protection. The NTSB also recommended the NHTSA work to improve 15-passenger van classification, driver training, occupant protection and tire conditions.

On the heels of a horrific van accident in Maine that killed 14 people, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) introduced a bill in Congress called the Passenger Van Safety Act of 2003. This bill would require NHTSA to develop and implement a dynamic rollover test program for the vans and would prohibit the sale, lease or rental of 15-passenger vans to schools for transporting students.

In 2004, the Senate passed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003 (SAFETEA 2003; still pending). This bill would require that 15-passenger vans be included in NHTSA’s rollover testing, new car assessment testing and rating programs, and meet federal safety standards.

The NTSB continues to push for more stringent regulations. In April 2004, the NTSB recommended that all vehicles carrying 10 or more passengers and transporting children comply with school-bus structural standards.

“These are moves in the right direction, but 15-passenger vans continue to be exempt from numerous federal safety standards related to interior head protection, side impact protection and roof-crush resistance, among others,” Davis said.

“Forcing auto manufacturers to improve roof-crush resistance in these vans would be a huge step. Most tests show that if 15-passenger vans were required to pass existing roof-crush resistance tests, they’d fail,” Davis said.

“Our firm stands ready to help victims of catastrophic accidents, but we’d much rather the government and manufacturers do more to ensure our clients’ safety before they have an accident. Sadly, by that time, it’s too late,” Davis said.