The National Transportation Safety Board has just released its 2014 Most Wanted List, the top 10 advocacy and awareness priorities for the agency for the year.

"The traveling public relies on a safe and efficient transportation system. Yet, every year, we see over 35,000 fatalities," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "That's why we have the Most Wanted List: Steps we can take today, so that more people make it home tonight."

Occupant protection is new for 2014. “While preventing accidents is always the goal, saving lives and reducing injuries in the event of an accident is also critical,” says the board. “Increasing the use of available occupant protection systems and improving crashworthiness to preserve survivable space can mean the difference between life and death.”

ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said, “We appreciate NTSB’s persistence in addressing critical safety issues, especially those that affect the trucking industry’s workplace, our highways.”

NTSB’s Most Wanted List is an important record of needed safety improvements, said ATA, and “this year includes three items of particular interest to the trucking industry: eliminating distraction, addressing substance-impaired driving and improving occupant protection and crashworthiness of vehicles.”

The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the U.S. and significant accidents in other modes of transportation, such as railroad, highway, marine and pipeline. It can make safety recommendations to the U.S. Transportation Department and its agencies, but cannot mandate policy or require new regulations.

More information about what is on NTSB’s 2014 Most Wanted List can be found on its website.