(This article is reproduced, with permission, from the website of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at http://www.highwaysafety.org.)

Based on their numbers on the road and the amount they travel, large trucks (tractor-trailers, single-unit trucks, and some cargo vans weighing more than 10,000 pounds) account for more than their share of highway deaths. Tractor-trailers have higher fatal crash rates per mile than passenger vehicles.¹

Large truck occupant deaths number about 700 annually, but about 4,000 occupants of passenger vehicles die each year in collisions with large trucks. This amounts to more than one-fifth of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths in multiple-vehicle crashes. The main problem is the vulnerability of people traveling in smaller vehicles. Trucks often weigh 20-30 times as much as passenger cars.

Truck braking capability is a safety problem. Loaded tractor-trailers take 20-40 percent farther than cars to stop, and the discrepancy is worse when trailers are empty.² Of a representative sample of trucks inspected in 1996, 29 percent were ordered off the road because of serious vehicle defects, more than half of which were brake defects.³ Antilock brakes help and are required on new tractors as of 1997 (new trailers as of 1998).⁴

Other issues involve the drivers of large trucks, who are allowed to drive up to 16 hours per day and 70 hours in 5 days.⁵ Surveys indicate that many drivers violate federal hours-of-service regulations.^6,7 Other studies show drivers are much more likely to crash after long hours behind the wheel.^8-13

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System:

• 5,282 people died in large truck crashes in 1998. Fourteen percent of these deaths were truck occupants, 75 percent were people in cars and other passenger vehicles, and 9 percent were either pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists.
• Ninety-eight percent of people killed in two-vehicle crashes involving a passenger vehicle and a large truck in 1998 were occupants of the passenger vehicles.
• Since 1979, deaths in truck crashes have declined 19 percent overall (51 percent among tractor-trailer occupants and 6 percent among passenger vehicle occupants).
• Large trucks accounted for 3 percent of registered vehicles and 7 percent of miles driven in 1998.¹⁴ They were involved in 12 percent of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 1998 and 23 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in multiple-vehicle crashes.
• Eighty-two percent of fatal large truck crashes in 1998 involved 2 or more vehicles. This compares with 46 percent of fatal passenger vehicle crashes.
• Single-unit trucks were involved in 25 percent of large truck crash deaths in 1998.
• Sixty-two percent of 1998 deaths in large truck crashes occurred on major roads, 27 percent occurred on freeways, 10 percent occurred on minor roads, and 1 percent occurred on unknown road types.
• Four percent of fatally injured tractor-trailer drivers in 1998 had blood alcohol concentrations at or above 0.10 percent.
• More large truck crash deaths occur during the day than at night. More occur on weekdays than on weekends.

REFERENCES

1National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 1998. Traffic safety facts 1997. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation. DOT-HS-808-806.

²National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 1987. Heavy truck safety study. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation. DOT-HS-807-109.

³Federal Highway Administration. 1998. National fleet safety survey 1996. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation. FHWA-MC-98-015.

⁴Federal Highway Administration. Parts and accessories necessary for safe operation; antilock brake systems. 49 CFR Part 393. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.

⁵Federal Highway Administration. Hours of service of drivers. 49 CFR Part 395. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.

⁶Braver, E.R.; Preusser, C.W.; Preusser, D.F.; Baum, H.M.; Beilock, R.; Ulmer, R. 1992. Long hours and fatigue: a survey of tractor-trailer drivers. Journal of Public Health Policy 13 (3): 341-366.

⁷McCartt, A.T.; Hammer, M.C.; and Fuller, S.Z. 1997. Work and sleep/rest factors associated with driving while drowsy experiences among long-distance truck drivers. 41st Annual Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, 95-108. Des Plaines, IL: AAAM.

⁸Frith, W.J. 1994. A case-control study of heavy vehicle drivers' working time and safety. Proceedings of the 17th Australian Road Research Board Conference, 17:17-30. Queensland, Australia: Australian Road Research Board.

⁹Jones, I.S. And Stein, H.S. 1989. Defective equipment and tractor-trailer crash involvement. Accident Analysis and Prevention 21:469-81.

¹⁰Lin, T.D.; Jovanis, P.P.; and Yang, C.Z. 1994. Time of day models of motor carrier accident risk. Transportation Research Record, 1467:1-8. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.

¹¹Mackie, R.R. and Miller, J.C. 1978. Effects of hours of service, regularity of schedules, and cargo loading on truck and bus driver fatigue (DOT-HS-803-799). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

¹²Saccomanno, F.F.; Shortreed, J.H.; And Yu, M. 1996. Effect of driver fatigue on commercial vehicle accidents. Truck Safety: Perceptions and Reality, 157-74. Waterloo, Canada: The Institute for Risk Research.

¹³Summala, H. and Mikkola, T. 1994. Fatal accidents among car and truck drivers: effects of fatigue, age, and alcohol consumption. Human Factors 36:315-26.

¹⁴Federal Highway Administration. 1998. Highway statistics 1998. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/hs98/tables/vm1.pdf (accessed Sept. 15, 1999).