BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 341
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: lowenthal
VERSION: 3/21/11
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: March 29, 2011
SUBJECT:
Commercial vehicles: backup alarms
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires that specified commercial vehicles operated
in construction and mining sites be equipped with an automatic
alarm that sounds when the vehicle backs up.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law requires that vehicles be equipped with specified
equipment for safety reasons, such as a horn, various lights and
mirrors, and a windshield defroster. Among the equipment
requirements in state law, each garbage truck must be equipped
with an automatic backup alarm that sounds when the garbage
truck is backing, whether that occurs because it is operating in
reverse or it is in another gear but rolls backwards. This
alarm must be audible at a distance of 100 feet.
The Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational
Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) safety orders (i.e., state
regulations) governing construction employment sites require
that vehicles at these sites capable of hauling 2.5 or more
cubic yards of dirt, rock, concrete, or other construction
material must be equipped with an automatic backup alarm that is
audible from 200 feet or a functional equivalent to backup
alarm.
This bill requires that commercial vehicles having a gross
vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or more that work in
construction or mining sites must be equipped with an alarm that
sounds automatically on backing and can be heard from a distance
of 200 feet.
COMMENTS:
SB 341 (LOWENTHAL) Page 2
1.Purpose . The author notes that trucks traveling through
aggregate plants or construction sites pose occupational
safety challenges due to their numbers, mobility, and traffic
patterns, changes in driver and tractor-trailer combinations,
and separate ownership and operation. While most dump trucks
have working backup alarms and aggregate and construction
sites enforce Cal/OSHA alarm requirements, the author asserts
that it remains a challenge to ensure that every truck has a
working alarm, given the number of trucks and frequency of
changes.
The author further points to the additional public safety
concern that while operating on public roads or in areas
outside of those covered by the Cal/OSHA safety order, dump
trucks and other construction site vehicles are not required
to have backup alarms. The author introduced this bill to
close a safety gap the proponents perceive in current law
regarding backup alarms.
2.Enforcement . The most likely way that this bill would be
enforced is through the biennial inspection of terminals (BIT)
program through which the California Highway Patrol (CHP)
inspects trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds and having
three or more axles every two years. Most, but not all, of the
trucks included in the backup alarm requirements of this bill
would be included in the BIT program. In conducting the
inspection, CHP examines the trucking company's vehicles,
their maintenance records, and driver records. In addition,
CHP randomly inspects these same trucks when they stop at
weigh stations along California highways.
By adding the backup alarm requirement to the state Vehicle
Code, CHP would check trucks in the BIT program for a
functioning backup alarm during the regular and random
inspections and issue a fix-it ticket to the owners of those
trucks without the required alarm. Under a fix-it ticket, the
vehicle owner has 30 days to install an alarm, get an officer
to sign the ticket indicating that the truck now has a backup
alarm, and return the signed ticket with a $25 fee. Failure
to install an alarm in 30 days would result in a $150 base
fine (the current fine for a garbage truck lacking a backup
alarm), which with penalty assessments becomes approximately
$728.
3.Cost . The cost of adding an alarm to a commercial vehicle is
minimal. The sponsors report that an alarm required by this
SB 341 (LOWENTHAL) Page 3
bill costs $150 or less, which a search of internet sites
selling aftermarket equipment for trucks confirms.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, March 23,
2011)
SUPPORT: California Construction and Industrial Materials
Association (sponsor)
Basic Resources, Inc.
California Dump Truck Owners Association
Elements Specialties
Holliday Rock Company
Knife River Corporation
LeHigh Hanson
Specialty Minerals Inc.
Vulcan Materials Company
West Coast Aggregates, Inc.
OPPOSED: None received.