• 14
  • September
    2011

The explosion was seen and felt miles away when a liquid propane tanker truck burst into flames after a rollover accident under an Indianapolis highway bridge. Shooting a colossal fireball and black smoke into the sky, the explosion charred nearby vehicles, billboards and a communications tower in addition to displacing a bridge pier and damaging two steel girders. Five people including the tanker driver, Ronald J. Tobias, were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The rollover accident prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent federal agency, to conduct both an investigation into the incident and a policy review. Though it is not a regulatory agency, the NTSB is tasked with determining probable cause of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety and providing assistance to victims of transportation accidents.

The Results Are In

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 75 percent of all large truck rollover crashes nationwide are caused directly by driver error and unsafe behavior. With the truck's rollover susceptibility due to its high center of gravity and the reduced slope of the roadway, the driver's panicky steering was enough to send the truck and tank trailer careening out of control.

In response to its findings and policy review, the NTSB issued 20 safety recommendations to other regulatory agencies including the FMCSA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the National Tank Truck Carriers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These recommendations address multiple safety areas for drivers nationwide, such as:

  • Implementation of a rollover prevention program for drivers
  • Identification of cargo tank designs susceptible to stability failure
  • Requirement of retrofitting cargo tank trailers with rollover stability control systems
  • Development of stability control system performance standards for all trucks
  • Establishment of minimum performance standards for newly manufactured trucks

In response to the NTSB recommendations to reduce and prevent rollover crashes, the FMCSA partnered with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the National Tank Truck Carriers to create a training video for drivers. The video, available for viewing or download at the FMCSA and PHMSA websites, provides drivers with best practices and safety tips for avoiding rollover accidents while transporting hazardous materials.