TRUCKING IS SAFE

Most Crashes Don’t Involve Trucks

Of the 73,498 traffic crashes that were reported to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety in 2009, 3,653 or 4.9 % involved large trucks.

Minnesota Trucking is Getting Safer

  • Trucking-related fatalities in Minnesota dropped 20.2% from 74 in 2008 to 59 in 2009A
  • Trucking-related fatal crashes in Minnesota dropped 26.5% from 64 in 2008 to 47 in 2009B
  • The number of persons injured in truck-related crashes in Minnesota went down 18.4%, from 1,425 in 2008 to 1,162 in 2009C
  • Total truck crashes in Minnesota hit their lowest level in the past decade, with 3,653 in 2009 compared to 5,156 in 1999D

  • There were 791 fewer truck-related crashes in Minnesota in 2009 vs. 2008, representing a reduction of 16%E


Since 2004, trucking-related crashes in Minnesota have been trending downward:


A. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01
B. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01
C. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01
D. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01
E. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01
F. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2009, Table 5.01

http://www.dps.state.mn.us/OTS/crashdata/crash_facts.asp.

Trucking is Getting Safer Nationally as Well

  • Over a 20 year period (from 1989 to 2009) there has been a 43 percent increase in registered large trucks1
  • Over the same time period, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes has declined by 24 percent, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes has declined by more than 22 percent.2
  • In 2008, the large truck fatal crash rate was a record low 1.64 fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, compared with 1.85 fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles in 2007. This has decreased from 4.58 in 1975, the first year the USDOT began keeping records.3
  • Over the past decade alone, the large truck fatal crash rate dropped by 30 percent.4
  • Large truck crash-related injuries are at the lowest level in over a decade.5
  • In 2008, the large truck-involved injury crash rate fell to its lowest rate since USDOT began keeping statistics.6

Cars are More Likely to Run into Trucks

  • A 2006 Virginia Tech analysis of two studies conducted for the Department of Transportation found that 78 percent of crashes were caused by passenger car drivers.7
  • AAA found in July 2002 that 80 percent of crashes were caused by car drivers.8
  • In fatal crashes involving a car and a large truck, 35 percent of the time the crash occurred in one of the four blind spots surrounding large trucks.9
  • In fatal crashes involving a rear-end collision between a large truck and a passenger vehicle, 77 percent of the time the passenger vehicle rear-ended the truck.10
  • In fatal crashes involving a head-on collision between a large truck and a passenger vehicle, 82 percent of the time the passenger vehicle encroached on the truck’s lane.11


Trucking Has No Tolerance for Impairment

  • The trucking industry has a zero tolerance standard in place for drug and alcohol use. The latest violation rate for alcohol use on the job, based on random alcohol testing of truck drivers, is just one-tenth of two percent (0.2 percent).12
  • Since 1982, alcohol involvement for large truck drivers in fatal crashes has declined by 85%.13
  • In 2008, for all fatal large truck crashes, the FMCSA estimates fatigue to be a primary factor in only 1.6 percent.14
  • Truck drivers are less likely to have a previous license suspension than are passenger vehicle drivers.15

1. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 1
2. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 1
3. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 1 & FHWA VMT data
4. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 1
5. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 1
6. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 4
7. Hanowski, R.J., Hickman, J.S., Wierwille, W.W., Keisler, A., June 2006. A Descriptive Analysis of Light Vehicle-Heavy Vehicle Interactions using in situ Driving Data. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia.
8. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Identifying Unsafe Driver Actions That Lead to Fatal Car-Truck Crashes, April 2002
9. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 67 & 68
10. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 56
11. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 56
12. 2007 FMCSA Analysts Brief- Drug and Alcohol Survey: 2005 Results
13. 2007 Large Truck Crash Overview, FMCSA-RRA-09-002, Table 12
14. Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008: Early Release, FMCSA-RRA-09-05, Table 67
15. 2007 NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/CrashProfile/NationalCrashProfileMain.asp

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/research-technology/analysis/FMCSA-RRA-07-014.pdf

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810989.PDF