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Heavy Truck Safety-What We Know
Technical Paper
856106
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Language:
English
Abstract
The overall highway fatality rate has dropped almost continuously since 1925, from 20 to 2.5 per 100 million miles of travel in 1984. Still, the almost 44,000 fatalities in 1984 can and will be decreased. In 1983, 5,475 of the 42,584 highway fatalities were in accidents involving medium or heavy trucks. Only 18 percent of these were occupants of the trucks themselves; 82 percent were pedestrians or occupants of the other vehicle. The greatest number of combination truck accidents takes place on two-lane rural roads. Single-vehicle accidents are responsible for 70 percent of heavy truck occupant fatalities. Doubles and heavier trucks appear to be as safe as other heavy trucks. Rollover and ejection are responsible for the greatest number of truck occupant fatalities.
When asked about her top priority as the new Secretary of Transportation, Mrs. Dole replied, “There's no higher mandate for the Department than to promote safety….”
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Citation
Seiff, H., "Heavy Truck Safety-What We Know," SAE Technical Paper 856106, 1985.Also In
References
- National Safety Council Accident Facts Chicago 1984 59 U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration Highway Statistics Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office 1983
- Interview with Grace Hazzard National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Washington, D.C. January 24 1985
- Carsten, Oliver Pettis Leslie C. Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents, 1980-82 Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute 1985
- Federal Highway Administration Highway Statistics
- Clarke, Robert M. Mergel Joseph “Heavy truck occupant crash protection-a plan for investigating ways to improve it,” SAE Paper 821270 Indianapolis, Indiana November 1982
- Chirachavala, Thipatai O'Day James A Combination of Accident Characteristics and Rates for Combination Vehicles with One or Two Trailers Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute 7 1981
- Kassel, et al., vs. Consolidated Freightways, 450 U.S. 662 1981
- Uffen, Robert J. “Report of the Ontario Commission on Truck Safety,” Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications 159 1983
- Wolfe, A.C. Filkins L.D. O'Day J. Factbook on Combina-Vehicles in Fatal Accidents, 1975-1981 Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute 1983
- U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “National accident sampling system 1982,” Washington, D.C. 1984
- Wolfe et al. Factbook
- Ibid, Table 2.17
- U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety “1982 roadside vehicle inspection report,” Washington, D.C. 6 10 1984
- U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety “Commercial motor carrier safety inspection and weighing demonstration program, interim report,” Washington, D.C. 3 4 1981
- Kissinger, J. Peter National Transportation Safety Board, to author, April 26, 1984, MVMA files Washington, D.C.
- O'Day, James “Commercial vehicle safety issues,” National Highway Safety Symposium paper Williamsburg, Virginia February 28 March 1 1984
- National Safety Council Accident Facts 44
- Computer run of University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute data files of heavy truck fatal accidents, MVMA files Washington, D.C.
- Ranney, Thomas A. “A study of heavy truck occupant protection: accident data analyses,” Calspan Field Services, Inc. Buffalo, New York 60 1983
- Clarke Mergel Heavy Truck Occupant Crash Protection 17