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Truck fatality rate drops in '04
By Sean Kelley
According to preliminary data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the rate of fatalities from big truck accidents declined in 2004, after a small increase in 2003.
Cautioning the data was still being tabulated, Warren Hoeman, deputy administrator for FMCSA, said commercial motor vehicle fatality rates fell from 2.31 per 100 million miles traveled to an estimated 2.23. The decline is a good sign for an agency hoping to reach a fatality rate of just 1.65 fatalities for every 100 million trucking miles by 2008.
In 2003, the truck fatality rate rose, albeit slightly, for the first time since 1997, climbing from 2.3 to 2.31. Overall, the agency has traced an 18 percent decline in truck fatalities from 1996 to 2003.
Hoeman’s remarks came at a forum on FMCSA safety initiatives Jan. 9 in Washington, D.C.
Preliminary data also was released from the Large Truck Crash Causation Study, an ambitious FMCSA project to gather data not just on how many truck crashes occur but why they occur.
The agency has compiled nearly 1,000 accidents into a database, which the agency will make public later this year. Ralph Craft, a crash data analyst, said vehicle condition and environmental issues play only a small role in crashes, while driver behavior is the chief culprit.
Craft studied 287 two-vehicle accidents in which cars and trucks collided. When the truck driver was at fault, the following factors played a critical role:
Driver nonperformance/sickness or sleep – 3 percent
Driver recognition/inattention – 46 percent
Driver decision/misjudging a distance – 36 percent
Driver performance/poor control over the vehicle – 5 percent
When motorists were to blame, driver nonperformance, recognition and decision also played heavy roles. In the sample, truckers were blamed for 87 of the 287 accidents; motorists were responsible for the remainder.
On the technology front, Doug McKelvey, chief of the FMCSA Technology Division, said the agency is looking at enhancing rear signaling on trucks, such as adding more marking lights. “Cars crashing into the back of big trucks is a much larger problem than I thought it was,” McKelvey said. The agency also will look at rear-facing radar that could activate lights on the backs of rigs when other vehicles get too close.
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