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May 5, 2000 11:35 AM, EDT

The National Transportation Safety Board’s “Ten Most Wanted” list of transportation safety improvements is now grown to 11.

Agency officials voted May 2 to add commercial truck and bus safety to its 10-year-old list at the recommendation of its staff. The decision comes as the independent federal agency works on a series of reports critical of truck and bus safety.

NTSB wants the Department of Transportation to revise the way it issues carrier safety fitness ratings. It also wants DOT to update hours-of-service regulations for truck and bus drivers.

Not surprisingly, NTSB seeks regulatory updates for on-board recorders on trucks — both for accident reconstruction purposes and to increase compliance with hours-of-service rules.

Many of these concerns were address when DOT released its hours-of-service proposal April 25 ("DOT Proposes New Trucking Work Rules," 5-1, p.1).