U.S. schedules safety workshops

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 2) — The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has scheduled workshops in July and August to plot strategies for meeting its ambitious goal of cutting fatalities in truck-related accidents by 50% in the next decade.

Invitations to about 70 truck safety stakeholders, including trucking companies, are going out this week for meetings July 14-15 and August 3-4 at DOT headquarters in Washington, D.C.

DOT will provide parking but participants will have to pay their own way.

DOT’s Federal Highway Administration already is moving to strengthen safety enforcement, improve its management information systems, and implement new safety technologies. Among the issues to be covered at the upcoming workshops are crashworthiness requirements, speed governors, and requiring new truckers to prove they understand the safety rules.

DOT also is considering a national commission to study how driver pay affects safety performance.