Group calls for collision-avoidance systems on all commercial trucks, buses

Washington – A group of safety advocates is calling for forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking systems, or F-CAM, to be required in all trucks and buses to help prevent deadly rear-end crashes.

The group – which includes the Truck Safety Coalition, the Center for Auto Safety, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and Road Safe America – filed a petition for rulemaking on Feb. 19 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The petitioners cited statistics showing that, from 2009 to 2012, fatalities related to truck crashes increased 16 percent and injuries increased 40 percent, resulting in about 104,000 injuries and nearly 4,000 fatalities in 2012.

Many of the crashes in question resulted from rear-end pileups, the group stated. These incidents could be reduced, the petitioners claim, if NHTSA established a safety regulation to require F-CAM on all trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,000 pounds.

NHTSA continues to research F-CAM systems in regard to heavy vehicles.

“Research indicates that each year of delay is associated with needless loss of as many as 166 lives and injury to over 8,000 individuals,” the petitioners stated.