The US government has concluded that drivers of large trucks and other vehicles involved in truck crashes are ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash than other factors, such as weather, road conditions, and vehicle performance. The three-year study, Large Truck Crash Causation Study, also catalogues the critical factors that result in serious large truck crashes. The findings are sobering, objectively confirming the worst fears of truck safety analysts.

• Victims of trucker negligence have much more serious injuries than other accidents
  • Over 23% of large truck collisions involved a fatality,
  • Nearly 30% caused an incapacitating injury
• Tractor-trailers are more likely to cause accidents than other big trucks:
  • 62.2% of large truck collisions involved tractor-trailer combinations.
• Rear end collisions are the most frequent type of truck accidents:
  • 23.1% of large truck crashes involved rear end collisions
  • 17.8% involved trucks off the road or out of lane
  • 10.3% involved sideswipe collisions

The FMCSA Press Release can be accesses at http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/ltccs/default.asp?page=press