Dive Brief:
- National Transportation Safety Board officials are investigating a Greyhound bus that crashed into three tractor-trailers parked at a rest area ramp Wednesday in Illinois, according to Board Member Tom Chapman.
- The crash killed three people and occurred around 1:54 a.m. Wednesday near the entrance to the Silver Lake Rest Area along I-70 near St. Louis, where the bus was headed.
- “Rest area safety is one of the issues that will be a part of this investigation,” Chapman said last week. “We don’t know enough to be able to say with certainty that that’s what occurred, but that’s certainly one of the issues that we’ll be looking at.”
Dive Insight:
While the NSTB investigates the fatal crash in Illinois, the I-95 overpass collapse and other tragic incidents across the country, parking safety for truckers has been a growing issue of concern.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been pushing for expanded truck parking for years and is calling on Washington for a legislative solution.
“You see trucks parked all over the shoulder and all these different places because they have nowhere else to go,” OOIDA’s Lewie Pugh told members of Congress in May. “This has been a problem my entire career and it’s kind of crisis stage now.”
Studies have found over the years that parking violations can occur for truck drivers about to exceed Hours of Service limitations.
Illinois State Police and law enforcement in other states such as California, Florida, New York and Texas didn’t immediately answer questions from Transport Dive about any kinds of parking restrictions their states have and whether they enforce rules.
“This is a matter of state law,” Chapman said at a briefing. “If recommendations are appropriate, we’ll certainly make them.”
NTSB investigations typically take between 12 and 24 months, but recommendations can be made at anytime. Although the board doesn’t have regulatory authority and can’t compel an entity to do anything, most recommendations the NTSB has issued have been adopted.
