Technical Paper
The Decade of Declining Heavy Truck Fatalities -- A Tribute to the Cooperative Process
1993-11-01
933058
This paper provides an overview of the substantial reduction since 1980 in frequency of medium/ heavy truck accidents, injuries, and fatalities. It also reviews concurrent progress achieved by truck manufacturers, the trucking industry in general, and the U.S. Department of Transportation in cooperatively addressing key truck transportation issues. Single vehicle truck crashes continue to be the largest contributor to truck occupant fatalities; fewer than 13% of all fatal truck crash involvements account for two-thirds of the total number of in-cab fatalities. The majority of fatally injured truck occupants involve ejection and/or rollover. Increasing use of seat belts is the single largest contributor to the declining number of truck occupant fatalities. The occupant fatality rate for medium/heavy trucks improved 60% from 1980 to 1991.
