Truckers' Use of Seat Belts Increases as Fatal Crashes Decline, Data Show

This story appears in the May 9 print edition of Transport Topics.

A closer look at fatality and injury data released last month by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed increased use of seat belts by truck drivers but more trucks involved in fatal crashes in work zones.

An FMCSA webinar on May 3 revealed only 9.1% of truck drivers involved in fatal crashes were not using some kind of safety restraint in 2014, down from 14.9% in 2005. The agency also said seat belt use by drivers of large trucks, which the agency defines as those weighing more than 10,000 pounds, reached a record 84% in 2013, up from 65% in 2007. FMCSA did not yet have a 2014 figure.

The agency also said that, while only 11.4% of all fatal crashes in 2014 involved a large truck, 30.1% of such crashes in work zones did. That figure was up from 27.7% in 2013 and 22.5% in 2010.

Those numbers prompted Collin Mooney, president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, to consider making work zones the focus of CVSA’s Operation Safe Driver Week, scheduled for Oct. 18-24.

“This area obviously needs attention where we could send a message and have an impact,” Mooney told Transport Topics.

“That’s where we need to sharpen our focus,” said Rob Abbott, vice president of highway safety for American Trucking Associations. “We’re evaluating the root cause so that we can take effective countermeasures. Some of the [factors] could be signage, the design of the work zones including lane width and merging areas.”

FMCSA reported that only a third of fatal crashes involving large trucks in 2014 could be even partly blamed on truck driver-related factors. The largest of those was speeding at 7.1%, with distracted driving (cellphones, eating, etc.) next at 6.2%, and impairment (fatigue, alcohol, etc.) at 3.9%. Also, 90.7% of the drivers weren’t charged with a moving violation, a statistic that Mooney said showed they aren’t at fault in most truck crashes.

“That reflects screening, proper training and safety culture,” Abbott noted.

Overall, the 3.7% decline in fatal crashes involving all large trucks was the first drop since 2009.

“We’re glad to see the numbers heading in the right direction,” Mooney said.

The fatal crash rate of 1.23 per 100 million miles driven by large trucks in 2014 was down sharply from the 2.03 figure a decade earlier. The same was true of the number of fatalities in those crashes, which sank from 2.37 per 100 million miles traveled in 2004 to 1.40 in 2014.

“It is important to keep in mind that the 2014 crash facts report represents a snapshot in time. However, it is encouraging that the findings continue to align with the longer-term trend of improvement in commercial truck and bus safety — even as vehicle miles traveled increases,” said FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne.

Total fatal crashes involving Class 8 vehicles, which the FMCSA defines as those weighing more than 26,000 pounds, slipped 1.8% from 2013 to 2014.

“It’s encouraging, especially in the long term,” Abbott said. “We think the decrease reflects the investment the industry has been making in safety, $7 billion annually, including some innovative voluntary things such as video event recorders.”

Occupant fatalities in fatal crashes involving large trucks held pretty steady over the decade, FMCSA said. Also, while 305 pedestrians and 60 bicyclists were killed by large trucks in 2014, those figures were down from 339 and 77, respectively, in 2004.

FMCSA’s analysis also revealed that 27% of fatal large-truck crashes in 2014 occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. Of those crashes, 29% were single-vehicle accidents. Those numbers reflect fewer vehicles being on the road during those hours and some shippers requiring deliveries then, FMCSA said.