Large Truck Crash Facts 2005

NHTSA · 2007 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

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Summary

This report, published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in 2007, presents descriptive statistics regarding fatal, injury, and property damage-only crashes involving large trucks in 2005. The study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of large truck crash trends, comparing them against passenger vehicle data to contextualize safety performance. The analysis defines a large truck as having a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) exceeding 10,000 pounds. The methodology relies on data from three primary national databases: the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for fatal crashes, the General Estimates System (GES) for injury and property damage-only crashes, and the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) for commercial truck crash details. Vehicle miles traveled and registration data were sourced from the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Statistics. The report organizes findings into four categories: trends over time, crash characteristics, vehicle attributes, and human factors. Key findings indicate that while the number of registered large trucks increased by 41 percent and miles traveled by 80 percent between 1985 and 2005, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes declined by 4 percent. More significantly, the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes dropped by 47 percent over the same period. From 1995 to 2005, registered trucks and miles traveled increased by 26 percent and 25 percent, respectively, while the vehicle involvement rate in injury crashes fell by 21 percent. Alcohol involvement among large truck drivers in fatal crashes decreased by 26 percent over the last decade of the study period. In 2005, there were 4,533 fatal crashes involving large trucks, resulting in 5,212 fatalities. The report also details crash distributions by roadway function, time of day, weather conditions, and driver-related factors, noting that large trucks were involved in approximately 78,000 injury crashes and 341,000 property damage-only crashes in 2005. The significance of this report lies in its demonstration of improved safety outcomes for large trucks despite substantial growth in fleet size and usage. The declining rates of fatal and injury crash involvement per mile traveled suggest positive trends in truck safety, potentially attributable to regulatory improvements, vehicle technology, or driver behavior changes. The data serves as a baseline for policymakers and safety researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of current safety measures and identify areas requiring further intervention, such as alcohol impairment and specific crash scenarios.

Key finding

The vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes declined by 47 percent between 1985 and 2005.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• incidence prevalence
• fatality injury trends
• bus coach

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes