WASHINGTON — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent a proposal to require stability control systems on truck tractors to the White House Office of Management and Budget for vetting, reported truckinginfo.com.

Many fleets in both the U.S. and Canada have already voluntarily adopted the technology because of the safety benefits.

While the NHTSA hasn’t said how it will handle the distinction between the two types of stability systems on the market, Roll Stability Control and Electronic Stability Control, it has made clear that the proposal will only cover tractors, making required retrofits unlikely.

The NHTSA has said that there is a strong safety justification. Rollover and loss-of-control crashes are responsible for 304 deaths and 2,738 injuries a year, and stability control systems are effective in up to 56 percent of single-vehicle tractor trailer rollover crashes, and up to 14 percent in crashes from skidding. The NHTSA estimates that the systems could save as many as 66 lives a year and prevent nearly 1,000 injuries.

The systems would cost the trucking industry up $107 million a year, but, the agency said, that cost would be outweighed by up to $372 million in savings from preventing property damage and travel delays.

The Canadian federal government will most likely harmonize with the U.S. on these systems, said The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA). The CTA said that they generally support installation of stability control systems at the OEM level.