The National Transportation Safety Board this week announced its 2016 Most Wanted List for transportation safety improvements, calling the list a “road map from lessons learned to lives saved.”
The list highlights 10 “safety improvements” which the NTSB believes would improve the safety of the transportation industry.
“Several items on the list demonstrate the importance of technology in saving lives, preventing accidents and lessening the number and severity of injuries from accidents. For example, the list calls for promoting both the availability of collision avoidance technology in highway vehicles, and the completion of rail safety initiatives to prevent accidents. The list also calls for strengthening occupant protection in all modes of transportation, including laws mandating primary enforcement of seatbelt use, and age-appropriate child restraints,” the NTSB said in a press release.
Topping the NTSB’s trucking concerns for 2016 are driver fatigue and driver distraction. In addition, the NTSB said that undiagnosed and untreated medical conditions have caused or contributed to accidents. The NTSB calls for operators and regulators to require medical fitness for duty.
This year’s list of concerns includes driver impairment. ” The NTSB has recommended lowering the legal limit on blood alcohol content to .05 to reduce deaths and injuries on highways. However, drugs other than alcohol can also impair drivers and operators of other types of vehicles – whether these drugs are recreational, over-the-counter, or prescription.”
“All of these most wanted transportation safety improvements are the result of our accident investigations. Our most powerful tool to learn safety lessons from accidents is data recorders. Thus, the list calls for their increased use in all modes of transportation,” the NTSB states.