FMSCA Figures Show Improved Trucking Safety Record
The number of large truck-involved fatal crashes declined by nearly one-third from 2007-2009, according to a new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration statistical report.
The most recent fatality rates and numbers — which were quietly posted on FMCSA’s website last month — showed that crashes declined to 3,215, from 4,633.
It also said that number of large trucks in fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled dropped in those same years from 1.32 to 1.12 — a downturn of 26%.
Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled declined to 1.17 in 2009, from 1.59 in 2007.
Since 2000, the fatal crash rate for large trucks has fallen 54.5% - more than twice as much as the passenger vehicle fatal crash rate, which dropped just 25% in the same time period.
“These safety gains are the result of many things, sensible regulation, improvements in technology; slower, more fuel efficient driving; the dedication of professional drivers and safety directors [and] more effective enforcement techniques,” American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said.
But Graves criticized FMCSA officials for not doing more to “share this good news” about trucking’s safety record.
“We are at a loss on why FMCSA chose not to communicate this final data indicating great safety progress,” Graves said in a statement.
Dave Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, said the new figures were even more encouraging than those released in a preliminary truck safety report in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
An FMCSA spokeswoman said the only new information in the final report is the Federal Highway Administration’s vehicle miles traveled and vehicle registration data.
The agency published the initial results last year when NHTSA released the data, she said.
