Fatality in Truck Accidents Statistics: A Serious Problem

The current statistics of commercial motor vehicle accidents are alarming:

• the Fatal Crash Rate for large trucks is 50 percent greater than the rate for all vehicles on the roads;
  
  
• in crashes between passenger vehicles and large trucks, the ratio of occupant fatalities is about 32 to 1;
  
  
• in 1998, ninety-eight percent of the fatalities in two-vehicle crashes involving passenger vehicles and large trucks were occupants of the passenger vehicle;
  
  
• fatalities from large truck crashes have increased approximately 10 percent from 1995 through 1998;
  
  
• of the trucks with out-of-service violations, more than one-third of them have problems with brakes;
  
  
• studies also show that driver fatigue plays a role in large truck crashes and that drivers are more likely to crash after many long hours of driving; and
  
  
• almost 30 percent of large truck drivers involved in fatal crashes in 1998 had at least one prior conviction for speeding.