FMCSA plans to review the involvement of last-mile delivery trucks in road traffic accidents, considering the trends indicating the increased use of such vehicles in the interstate haul.
Commenting on these plans during a meeting of the FMCSA’s Advisory Committee on Motor Vehicle Safety (MCSAC) on Monday, FMCSA Assistant Policy Administrator Larry Minor said the MCSAC will request data from nine companies that own large fleets of vehicles weighing between 6001 and 10,000 pounds, including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), to gain a better understanding of their safety management practices.
“It was a revelation how little we know about what’s going on with this type of vehicles,” said Minor. “Even though we don’t have any regulatory authority over the companies, we need to discuss measures to make sure we have important information and that those who operate this type of vehicle have the best safety practices in place.
The committee decided to take a closer look at short-haul crashes, as the data given by NHTSA’s accident analysis does not provide enough detailed information. The latest data shows that in 2018 there was only one collision with a truck weighing between 6001 and 10,000 pounds. “This is because of the way they processed the data – the total number is probably much larger,” said the Minor.
MCSAC board member Dave Huneryager, president and chief executive officer of the Tennessee Trucking Association, said they got new members from small, “courier” companies because of the increase in the number of such due to COVID-19.
“This is a cultural shift due to the pandemic,” said Hanneryger. “People who have been at home for the last four to five months have learned how easy it is to buy things online. That will be a problem because light trucks are more commonly used to deliver packages.
MCSAC Chairman Lamont Byrd, who is also director of the Health and Safety Department at Teamsters International, said the union package delivery operations “are working at an unprecedented volume for this year.
In addition to contacting private companies, the committee plans to request information from nine states – a request that does not require approval from the administration to see what they can tell us about traffic accidents involving vehicles in the 6001 to £10,000 category.
The group will also request data from the National Security Council, the Transportation Research Council and the American Association of Government Road Transport Officials to obtain clear data on workplace injuries and accidents involving workers and drivers of small vehicles.
