Truck-Crash Deaths Up 1.9%

This story appears in the Dec. 17 print edition of Transport Topics.

Truck-involved highway fatalities inched up 1.9% to 3,757 in 2011 from 3,686 the year before, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported last week.

Despite the small overall uptick, NHTSA warned the number “disguises” notable increases in several sub-categories related to truck-involved fatal crashes.

For example, the number of truck occupants killed in crashes last year increased 20% — to 635 from 530 — while injuries to truck occupants increased by 15%.

Fatalities also increased by 19% to 21% in three other categories: truck occupants in single-vehicle crashes, truck occupants in multi-vehicle crashes and people who were not inside any vehicle, such as pedestrians or bikers.

At the same time, in the category that is usually the key attention-grabber, the number of people who died in a truck-involved crash while traveling in another vehicle dropped 3.6% to 2,695, from 2,797 in 2010.

“It’s important that we don’t rush to conclusions about these numbers because they’re raw data,” said American Trucking Associations spokesman Sean McNally. “We don’t have the mileage figures, so it’s important to put them in context.”

The crash rate — which correlates the fatalities total with the number of miles driven — will not be calculated until next year, when the Federal Highway Administration totals the number of truck miles traveled in 2011.

“Even with this increase and the slight increase last year, trucking is experiencing its safest three-year record since NHTSA began keeping records in 1975,” McNally said.

The improving safety record probably relates to increased seat-belt use. A FMCSA study released last year found that 78% of truckers buckled up in 2010, up 20% from 2007.

In 2000, fatalities in truck-involved crashes stood at 5,282; by 2009, the number had fallen to 3,380 but rose to 3,686 in 2010.

Truck occupant deaths totaled 805 in both 2006 and 2007. They dropped 27% between 2008 and 2009 before rising 6% in 2010.

Following the release of the report, ATA said it plans to host a meeting with representatives from NHTSA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and industry driver groups to better understand the data.

NHTSA’s fatality report also found that 2011 had the lowest number of total highway deaths since 1949. A total of 32,367 people died in vehicular crashes, a 1.9% decline from 2010.

About 2.22 million people were injured in crashes in 2011, compared with 2.24 million in 2010, a 1% decline. However, fatalities in crashes where distracted driving was a factor increased 1.9% to 3,267 fatalities.

Both FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro and NHTSA Administrator David Strickland declined to speak with Transport Topics last week about the report, which contradicted a decrease in truck-involved fatalities that Ferro said this summer would show up in the data.

In back-to-back August speeches to trucking groups, Ferro said FMCSA was seeing a 5% drop in 2011 fatalities statistics.

At the same time, she attributed the anticipated decrease to the success of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program — the sweeping federal truck safety initiative started in 2010.

In its statement, NHTSA did not mention CSA but did address the part truck crashworthiness may play in trucker fatalities.

“The agency currently has research under way that will inform future standards that would raise the bar on safety for large trucks — such as the potential use of crash avoidance technologies, new measures to improve the crash safety of truck cabs and the assessment of improvements like underride protection, among other efforts,” the statement said.

NHTSA also said that, in the coming year, it will work on “final safety standards that would require electronic stability control technology on large trucks and improve tire performance standards, and plans to propose a rule on the use of speed limiting devices on heavy vehicles.”

At the same time, FMCSA will “continue to work with its state partners to improve truck safety through safety initiatives involving distracted driving, driver fatigue and seat belt use,” the statement said.

Crashworthiness for heavy trucks has been a concern for ATA and other groups for many years. The transportation reauthorization bill signed by President Obama in July requires the Department of Transportation to complete a study on “roof strength, pillar strength, air bags and other occupant protection standards, and frontal and back wall standards” in truck cabs by January 2014 (7-16, p. 35).

ATA sees the study as a first step in helping regulators and the trucking industry sort out what factors contribute to truck occupant fatalities, McNally said.

McNally also said driver health issues such as sleep apnea, as well as higher speed limits and truck-car split speed limits, also could be factors in the truck fatalities.

Fred McLuckie, legislative director for the Teamsters union, said rising congestion and crumbling highways are other factors.

“It’s all guesswork, but generally these guys work long hours, they’re stressed out. I think traffic congestion has made it even a more demanding job than it has been,” McLuckie said.