A new report on a two-year-old multi-vehicle crash in Illinois shows that transportation safety improvement still has work to do.
The report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that three of the board’s most wanted list of improvements were involved in the March 2018 crash.
According to the NTSB, on March 1, 2018, a commercial tractor trailer ran into the back of Chrysler Sebring that had slowed down because of traffic. The impact of that collision pushed the Chrysler into another tractor trailer. That collision moved the second tractor trailer forward into a third tractor trailer, which caused its trailer to rotate left into the center and left lanes. The trailer then collided with a Subaru Outback that was passing slower moving traffic. The Subaru struck the rear of a Ford Explorer and was also struck by a Toyota Sienna.
The Chrysler came to a stop between the two tractor trailers and caught fire. The driver of that car was fatally injured. Five of the six remaining drivers sustained minor injuries, the report said.
The NTSB said the crash was caused by three primary safety issues: medical fitness for duty, fatigue, and the lack of a collision-avoidance system. The board said all three are on their Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements.
“This crash tragically highlights the urgent need to implement the safety recommendations associated with our Most Wanted List,” NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt said. “Had our safety recommendations in these areas been implemented, this crash may well have been prevented.”
The Most Wanted List provides regulators with 10 issue areas that serve as the board’s road map for safety, and that could, if implemented, have the potential to prevent accidents.
Investigators with the NTSB determined that the driver of the first commercial tractor trailer didn’t slow down because of fatigue. Investigators said they thought the driver was tired because of untreated obstructive sleep apnea. The NTSB said the lack of a medical evaluation process to identify and screen commercial drivers at risk for OSA contributed to the crash.
In 2009, the NTSB recommended to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a process to identify and treat commercial drivers with OSA.
The NTSB also recommended, in 2015, that new forward collision avoidance systems be standardized and installed on all new passenger and commercial vehicles.
Both recommendations remain on the board’s Most Wanted List.
“With our Most Wanted List, the NTSB has pointed the way to safer roads, rails, seas, and skies,” said Sumwalt. “But to make that vision a reality, the recipients of our safety recommendations need to implement them.”