A recent AAA study suggested that new safety technology in trucks may reduce the number of truck-car crashes, however one veteran driver recently spoke out against the study — claiming that education, not technology, is the key to reducing accidents.
On September 21st, 2017, the AAA Foundation published a study stating that “in 2015 large trucks were involved in more than 400,000 crashes that resulted in more than 4,000 deaths and 116,000 injuries — a four percent increase from the year prior.”
In order to combat the rising number of truck-car crashes, the AAA suggested that new technologies, such as “lane departure warning systems, automatic emergency braking, air disc brakes, and video-based onboard safety monitoring systems,” be used in all commercial tractor trailers.
“There’s no question that truck safety technology saves lives,” said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “This new research shows that the benefits of adding many of these technologies to trucks clearly outweigh the cost.”
The AAA claims that the widespread installation, and enforcement, of said technologies would prevent 63,000 truck-related crashes per year.
A veteran driver, who runs a trucking school in Spokane, Washington, has spoken out against the AAA’s recommendations and says that technology is not the key to increase safety on the roads.
Doug Odegaard, Director of Operations at the truck driving academy Drive509, says that while the safety equipment may work as an extra precaution, the number of deaths related in truck-car accidents will not go down until the general public is more educated.
Odegaard recently spoke to local KREM news, and explained his views in an interview.
“I can almost guarantee, truth be known, 95 percent of those accidents involving a semi were caused by a car,” said Odegaard.
“They need to teach people how to drive around trucks. A gust of wind will make you change lanes, they need to be aware of that,” continued Odegaard.
“You have to work with traffic because traffic doesn’t work with you,” explained another member of Drive509.
In his 37 years of trucking, Odegaard says that nearly every accident and near-accident he has been involved in was the fault of the motorist.
“It can be very scary. Especially when you get someone next to you and they are texting and not maintaining their lane,” Odegaard said.
“They could end up underneath your trailer, and then who are they going to blame?”
Watch Odegaard’s interview in the clip below.
