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Federal Safety Stats Show Mixed Performance For Trucking
Deaths in heavy-truck accidents dropped by 0.4 percent in 2005 compared to 2004, from 5,235 to 5,212, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The best news was a 2.4 percent drop in deaths among occupants of other vehicles involved in accidents with trucks, but that was counterbalanced by a 4.8 percent increase in deaths among truck occupants. There were 803 casualties among truck occupants in 2005, compared to 766 in 2004.
While the number of fatalities has remained fairly constant – in the neighborhood of 5,000 a year over the past decade – the fatality rate of deaths per 100 million miles has been a more positive story.
The fatality rate reflects a safety improvement: As mileage increases, so does risk. In 1988 the rate topped 4.0; in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available, it was around 2.3.
The number of injuries in 2005 showed a 1.7 percent improvement over 2004, from 116,000 to 114,000. There was no change in the number of injuries among truck occupants – 27,000 in both years.
Injuries among occupants of other vehicles fell 1.2 percent, from 85,000 to 84,000. Notably, injuries among nonoccupants dropped by 50 percent, from 4,000 to 2,000.
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