MOTOR CARRIER ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

A MULTIVEHICLE COLLISION INVOLVING A TRACTOR-SEMITRAILER COMBINATION AND TWO AUTOMOBILES WAS INVESTIGATED. THE TRUCK HAD VEERED INTO THE OPPOSING LANE ON A LEFT CURVE AND COLLIDED WITH AN ONCOMING AUTOMOBILE; A SECOND AUTOMOBILE, TOO CLOSE TO STOP, COLLIDED WITH THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACTOR. THE INVESTIGATION SHOWED THE ACCIDENT WAS CLEARLY THE RESULT OF THE OPERATION OF A COMMERCIAL VEHICLE BY A DRIVER WHO WAS SERIOUSLY FATIGUED. THE DRIVER'S PAST RECORD HAD INDICATED PREVIOUS DISREGARD OF SAFETY REGULATIONS CONCERNING HOURS OF SERVICE. ALTHOUGH THE DRIVER HAD BEEN ADMONISHED BY THE MOTOR CARRIER, THE CARRIER WAS UNAWARE THAT THE DRIVER HAD HAD THREE LICENSE WITHDRAWALS AND ONE LICENSE PROBATION WITHIN A TEN-YEAR PERIOD. REVISIONS OF PART 391 OF THE MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS ARE CONTEMPLATED TO INCLUDE GREATER RESPONSIBILITIES FOR BOTH MOTOR CARRIER AND DRIVER.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Report No 69-10, 9 PP, 2 PHOT
• Corporate Authors:

  Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash investigation; Drivers; Fatigue (Physiological condition); Motor carriers; Safety; Sleep; Truck drivers
• Old TRIS Terms: Safety practices
• Subject Areas: Highways; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220653
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 16 1970 12:00AM