Editorial: Improving Highway Safety
ruckers everywhere should take pride in the latest federal safety statistics that show the fatal crash rate for large trucks has fallen to the lowest level in history. (Click here for coverage.)
Numbers provided by the Federal Highway Administration show that trucks were involved in 1.96 fatal crashes per 100 million miles of truck travel during 2004, the latest data available.
The fatal crash rate, which fell from 2.01 per 100 million miles in 2003, had been as high as 5.21 in the late 1970s.
While the parent agency, the Department of Transportation, had reported earlier this year that the total number of truck-related fatalities in 2004 was 5,190, FHWA only recently released its report on the number of vehicle-miles driven. Those figures allowed the fatal crash rate for trucks to be determined for the year.
Trucks last year traveled more than 226.5 billion miles, up from 215.9 billion in 2003, according to FHWA.
As the number of miles increases, so does trucking’s exposure to potential crashes. Thus, a falling rate is the strongest indicator we have of improving safety.
The fatal crash rate has been generally declining for decades, and had been in continuous improvement from 1997’s 2.41 to 2002’s 1.97 rate. During 2003, the crash rate nudged up to 2.01, before last year’s decline.
he previous lowest rate was 2.13, registered in 2001.
The latest number for truck-involved fatal crashes demonstrates “a continuing improvement in U.S. highway safety within the trucking industry and among our professional drivers,” said Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations. “Motor carrier commitment to safety is making a difference to everyone.”
Analysts credit a number of factors in helping bring the rate down, including better driver training, improved highway design and improvements in vehicle engineering.
The rate reduction was a step in the right direction, which is toward the 1.65 per 100 million vehicle-miles rate that is the goal of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
And if we continue our efforts, we’re going to meet that goal. Underlying all of this improvement is the clear commitment of the trucking industry to making the nation’s highways — our workplace — as safe as they can be. So, we can pat each other on the back for a job well done.
This editorial appears in the Dec. 19-26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
