U.S. truck crash data for 1997
By: Rick Grammick
Date: 1998-09-09
The good news is that per-mile crash rates for U.S. truck carriers were at their lowest level in history due to the increased miles traveled in 1997.
The bad news is that the number of people killed in crashes involving trucks jumped to its highest level in nearly a decade and the increase in 1997 was 4.5%.
In 1977, 5,355 people died in 4,572 heavy truck crashes, compared to 5,142 deaths in 4,413 heavy truck crashes in 1996.
A busy U.S. economy triggered sharp increases in truck mileage, from 183 billion miles in 1996 to over 191.3 billion miles in 1997.
This resulted in a fatality rate of 2.8 (crash fatalities per 100 million miles), and a crash rate of 2.4 (crashes per 100 million miles). Both these figures have remained the same since 1994.
In the past 20 years, the number of crashes and crash fatalities has remained constant, but the number of miles traveled has doubled from 95 billion in 1977. This is proof that increased safety efforts and awareness by carriers and drivers have paid off.
Other interesting U.S. statistics are:
- Heavy trucks are only 3% of all registered vehicles
- The 191.3 billion miles they traveled in 1977 was only 7% of all miles traveled by vehicles
- Heavy trucks were involved in 13% of all fatal crashes in 1997.
Sixty-six percent of these truck crashes happened in rural areas between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and almost 80% took place on weekends.
Alcohol continues to be a minor factor in truck crashes, with only 1.1% of involved truck drivers having blood alcohol at or higher than 0.10% (U.S. legal limit). This is a 60% drop since 1987. By contrast, 18.2% of car drivers involved in crashes were considered drunk.
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