NTSB finds illegal exit ramp parking contributed to deadly crash
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that a lack of available truck parking was a factor in a deadly truck crash, and the agency wants the Department of Transportation to do something about it.
The NTSB voted on Tuesday to approve the findings and recommendations related to the crash that occurred in Highland, Illinois, in 2023, in which a Greyhound bus careened into three tractor trailers parked illegally on the shoulder of an exit ramp outside the Silver Lake rest area late at night.
The bus driver's fatigue was found to be the probable cause of the crash, in which three bus passengers were killed and seven seriously injured. The truck drivers were uninjured.
'Also contributing to the crash were the three combination vehicles parked on the shoulder of the exit ramp – prohibited by Illinois statute – due to the recurring lack of available truck parking,' NTSB affirmed.
'The NTSB doesn't usually weigh in on the need for congressional funding for specific programs, so I do think this is a big deal and I do think it is much-needed,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at the meeting, pointing out that legislation pending in Congress would set aside funding specifically for constructing more truck parking nationwide.
Among 21 findings in the investigation, six related to issues involving a lack of truck parking, which was ranked by the American Transportation Research Institute as a top issue among truck drivers.
'Combination vehicles routinely parked on the shoulder of the exit ramp to the Silver Lake rest area due to recurring lack of available truck parking, which increases the risk of them being struck by an errant highway vehicle,' NTSB found.
'The limited truck parking capacity and subsequent unsafe parking observed at the Silver Lake Rest area were consistent with a lack of access to long term parking spaces for combination vehicles on the National Highway System.
'Individual states are limited in what they can do, and a centralized effort can more broadly address the safety risk caused by lack of available truck parking throughout the country.'
Recommendations approved by NTSB staff at the meeting directed at DOT included expanding efforts to use the department's Truck Parking Information Management System to identify rest areas around the country in critical need of additional parking.
NTSB also recommended that DOT 'pursue available options to increase commercial vehicle parking capacity on highways, such as establishing a grant program for states, local governments, and other eligible entities' and to evaluate 'the benefits of ending restrictions on private development of rest areas, and seeking additional congressional appropriations as necessary.'
Bridging the Divide in the Truck Parking Debate (The Playbook)
Why the trucking industry should celebrate paid truck parking
Lawmakers introduce 'clear path' to more truck parking
Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.
The post NTSB finds illegal exit ramp parking contributed to deadly crash appeared first on FreightWaves.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘The Key Bridge is down': Newly released transcript captures the moments before and after the ship's impact
As the National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a newly released transcript of the audio recording from the Dali container ship shows routine conversation then panic. The transcript reveals the moments directly before and after the Dali cargo ship collided with the Key Bridge in the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore. At the beginning of the trip, there was no indication of what was to come. As the ship was still alongside Seagirt Marine Terminal, the ship's crew on the bridge was 'having casual conversation.' Once two local pilots from the Association of Maryland Pilots boarded the DALI to guide its departure from the Port of Baltimore, one asked the master of the Dali, 'Captain, everything's working?' The master replied, 'yeah, everything is in order.' The conversation between the pilot and the training pilot was ordinary. They were talking about where the training pilot lived and when they started the job. The pilot mentioned he had stepped on a staple at home. There was conversation about people wanting sugar in coffee. However, around 1:24 a.m., there were signs of trouble. Around that time alarms began going off, and the Dali lost power. The training pilot then said, 'uh oh.' The pilot began asking if the ship had steering. Over the next minute, there was chaos on the cargo ship as crew members and the pilots worked to respond to the loss of power. Around 1:26 a.m., the pilot began warning to close the Key Bridge. At 1:27 a.m., the training pilot said, 'Security call. Security call. Container ship Dali has lost power. Approaching the Key Bridge — I repeat: The container ship Dali has lost all power approaching the Key Bridge, Dali.' While the crew members unsuccessfully tried to anchor the ship, around 1:29 a.m. the audio recording picked up an 'enormous rumble,' when the Dali hit the Key Bridge. At that point the pilot and training Pilot shouted expletives, saying 'the Key Bridge is down.' Immediately, the pilots were in contact with the Coast Guard, as the quick response from first responders began. Six men, working for a construction company performing routine maintenance work on the bridge, were killed. In the minutes after the bridge collapsed, the pilots on the ship were trying to figure out what went wrong. 'I called [the pilot dispatcher] when we started to drift,' the pilot said. 'But we had good speed,' he added. 'We weren't going crazy… everything was under control.' Lawsuits filed after the collapse accuse Grace Ocean and Synergy, the owners and operators of the Dali, of negligence. In court documents, state officials argued the disaster was preventable and said the operators failed to address issues with the ship prior to leaving the port. The transcript released by the NTSB seems to back up claims in some of the lawsuits filed against the owners and operators of the Dali. 'Investigation has established that the ship experienced two electrical power failures on March 25, hours before she departed from her berth. The ship's owner and operator did not diagnose or correct these electrical system failures. Nor were these failures reported to the United States Coast Guard, as required by law,' court documents said. 'Similarly, these failures were not divulged to the two local pilots from the Association of Maryland Pilots who boarded the DALI to guide its departure from the Port of Baltimore, which was also required by law. In fact, the DALI's master falsely reported to the Pilots that everything was in good working order,' the lawsuit filed by the State of Maryland continued to say. While Grace Ocean and Synergy have reached a settlement with the Department of Justice, in a statement the companies said they 'are prepared to vigorously defend themselves in the limitation of liability proceedings pending before the Federal Court in Baltimore and to establish that they were not responsible for the incident.' Earlier this year, the NTSB said that the Key Bridge was almost 30 times above the acceptable risk or threshold for critical bridges. Have a news tip? Contact Jessica Babb at jessicababb@
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
NTSB to hold June 24 hearing to determine cause of 2024 Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency
(Reuters) -The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a June 24 hearing to determine the probable cause of a mid-air cabin panel blowout of a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024 that spun the planemaker into a major crisis. The board said Monday it will hold the hearing into the Alaska Airlines flight that prompted the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing was not in compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. The incident badly damaged Boeing's reputation and led to the MAX 9 grounding for two weeks and a cap by the Federal Aviation Administration on the plane's production that remains in place.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
NTSB to hold June 24 hearing to determine cause of 2024 Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency
(Reuters) -The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a June 24 hearing to determine the probable cause of a mid-air cabin panel blowout of a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024 that spun the planemaker into a major crisis. The board said Monday it will hold the hearing into the Alaska Airlines flight that prompted the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing was not in compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. The incident badly damaged Boeing's reputation and led to the MAX 9 grounding for two weeks and a cap by the Federal Aviation Administration on the plane's production that remains in place.
