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The National Transportation Safety Board recently inspected 1,520 combination vehicles and found a significant percentage to have brake defects serious enough to put the vehicles out of service. In response to Congressional concern, ATA's Trucking Research Institute is studying the causes and suggesting solutions to the brake defect problem. This paper outlines the research and reports some of the insights gained from evaluating inspection data.

The overall highway fatality rate has dropped almost contintinously since 1925, from 20 to 2.5 per hundred million miles of travel in 1984. Still, the almost 44, 000 fatalities in 1984 can, and will, be decreased. In 1983, 5, 475 of the 42, 584 highway fatalities were in accidents involving medium or heavy trucks. Only 18% of these were occupants of the trucks themselves. 82% were pedestrians or occupants of the “other vehicle.” The greatest number of combination truck accidents take place on two-lane rural roads. Single-vehicle accidents are responsible for 70% of heavy truck occupant fatalities. Doubles and heavier trucks appear to be as safe as other heavy trucks. Rollover and ejection are responsible for the greatest number of truck occupant fatalities.

The overall highway fatality rate has dropped almost continuously since 1925, from 20 to 2.5 per 100 million miles of travel in 1984. Still, the almost 44,000 fatalities in 1984 can and will be decreased. In 1983, 5,475 of the 42,584 highway fatalities were in accidents involving medium or heavy trucks. Only 18 percent of these were occupants of the trucks themselves; 82 percent were pedestrians or occupants of the other vehicle. The greatest number of combination truck accidents takes place on two-lane rural roads. Single-vehicle accidents are responsible for 70 percent of heavy truck occupant fatalities. Doubles and heavier trucks appear to be as safe as other heavy trucks. Rollover and ejection are responsible for the greatest number of truck occupant fatalities. When asked about her top priority as the new Secretary of Transportation, Mrs. Dole replied, “There's no higher mandate for the Department than to promote safety….”

In contrast to public concern over “killer trucks,” large truck fatality and accident rates are falling. Large truck occupant fatalities decreased 25% over the past 12 years, as safety belt use increased from less than 6% to 33%. But the fatality rate remains 75% higher than the rate for all vehicles, because the mass of a truck puts occupants in other vehicles at greater risk. Double trailer combinations are underrepresented in accidents, while bobtail tractors are overrepresented. Limited-access highways are 4 times safer for trucks than other highways, and daytime travel is 3 times safer than nighttime travel.

The TMC/SAE Type I and Type II tests were developed jointly toy the SAE and the American Trucking Associations' Maintenance Council (TMC) with sponsorship from the Voluntary Truck and Bus Fuel Economy Program. The tests allow truck and bus operators and others to evaluate products and designs for fuel economy using a drive cycle of their own choosing. To encourage the use of this procedure and provide unbiased information to the industry, the Voluntary Program has begun a series of “New Energy Concepts Tests” to evaluate products and ideas.