WASHINGTON — Commercial truck drivers continue to be at fault at a much lesser rate than their passenger vehicle counterparts in truck-car accidents, according to the latest Large Truck Crash Overview published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

According to the 2005 report, in fatal crashes involving large trucks, driver related factors were cited for only 39 percent of the large truck drivers, compared to 66 percent of passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal crashes.

In all motor vehicle crashes, large trucks in general represented only 8 percent of vehicles involved in fatal crashes; 3 percent in injury crashes; and 5 percent of vehicles in property-damage only crashes.

In all two-vehicle fatal crashes involving a large truck and a passenger vehicle, the passenger vehicle struck the large truck more often than the reverse — 54 percent versus 40 percent. In those rear-end crashes, passenger vehicles struck large trucks in the rear three times more often than large trucks struck passenger vehicles in the rear — 16 percent versus 5 percent.

Passenger cars struck trucks 54 percent of the time,
compared to 40 percent the other way around.

Some of the most common factors cited for drivers of large trucks and drivers of passenger vehicles were the same: Driving too fast, failure to keep in proper lane, inattention, and failure to yield the right of way.

Only 1 percent of truck drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005 were legally
intoxicated (blood alcohol content of 0.08 grams per deciliter or higher), as compared with 22 percent of passenger car drivers and 21 percent of light truck drivers. Only 2 percent of large truck drivers had any alcohol at all in their bloodstream.

Truck drivers also seem to buckle up more than car operators. Seventy-seven percent of commercial drivers were reported by police as wearing their safety belts, compared with 61 percent of passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal crashes.

FMCSA reports that of all the people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2005, 12 percent (5,212) died in crashes that involved a large truck. Another 114,000 people were injured in crashes involving large trucks. Only about 15 percent of those killed and 24 percent of those injured in large truck crashes were occupants of large trucks.

Trends:

From 1995 to 2005, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes increased from 4,472 to 4,932 — up 10 percent. It should be noted, however, that the number of new trucks on the road during that time also increased. Case in point, according to the report, the number of large trucks in fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled declined in these years from 2.5 to 2.2 — down 12 percent. The same rate for passenger vehicles fell from 2.2 to 1.7-down 23 percent.

Vehicles:

Large truck tractors pulling semi-trailers accounted for 62 percent of the large trucks involved in fatal crashes and about one-half of the large trucks involved in nonfatal crashes. Doubles were only 3 percent of large trucks involved in fatal and 2 percent in nonfatal crashes, while triples accounted for 0.1 percent of all large trucks. Only 4 percent of large trucks in fatal crashes were carrying hazardous materials.

Crash Environment:

Critics of speed limiters on trucks had their arguments reinforced that speed is much less a factor of truck accidents than it is for cars. According to the study, speeding was a factor in 22 percent of the fatal crashes involving a large truck (not necessarily the truck speeding), compared with 32 percent of all fatal crashes.

No adverse weather conditions were reported for 86 percent of the fatal crashes and for 88 percent of the nonfatal crashes involving large trucks. Rain, however, was the most common adverse weather condition cited.