The National Transportation Safety Board is urging U.S. states and highway operators to adopt fully electronic tolling following a fatal crash at an Ohio toll plaza. The agency's recommendation comes after an investigation into a 2024 incident where an SUV slowed unexpectedly, leading to a collision with a truck.
The NTSB's recommendations aim to improve highway safety by reducing the risk of collisions at toll plazas and in traffic queues, potentially saving lives and preventing injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that U.S. states and highway operators transition to fully electronic tolling systems following a fatal crash in Ohio in 2024. The incident involved an SUV that suddenly slowed while attempting to enter a manual toll booth, leading to a collision with a truck-trailer that overturned and spilled sulfonic acid.
In a separate but related development, the NTSB released a report on a multi-vehicle collision and fire that occurred on November 14, 2023, on Interstate 70 near Etna, Ohio. This crash, which killed three students on a motorcoach and three people in a passenger vehicle, was attributed to a truck driver's inattention and failure to respond to a traffic queue. Contributing factors also included ineffective traffic management and a lack of information for travelers. The truck involved in the November 2023 incident also lacked an in-vehicle driver monitoring system.
Following the November 2023 crash, the NTSB issued eight new safety recommendations and reiterated two previous ones. These include stronger federal guidance for states on managing traffic queues, performance standards for collision avoidance technology in commercial vehicles, requirements for driver monitoring systems, and more rigorous interior fire safety standards for motorcoaches. The NTSB also recommended that Tuscarawas Valley School District update its motorcoach chartering process and urged the Ohio Department of Transportation to implement a statewide strategy for variable speed limits.