According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration there were approximately 120,000 fatal and injury crashes nationwide that involved a large truck during a 33-month study period.
Of those truck accidents in the study, 87% were caused by driver error; 10% were caused by problems with the truck; and only 3% were caused by the environment.
Truck safety and preventing accidents is a major safety concern, and the Federal and State government have implemented regulations to ensure safety. Some truck drivers and companies take those regulations seriously and some do not…which predictably results in injuries.
The general trend has been a decrease in truck accidents, which has been spurred by increased safety regulations resulting from serious accidents and litigation.
However serious accidents still occur far too frequently, sometimes resulting in very serious injuries and even death. The following is a table of crash severity taken from the Federal Motor Carries Safety Administration’s statistics, which has information on the first accident for a truck or driver and the severity of the crash:
Crashes Involving Large Trucks by First Harmful Event and Crash Severity:
| Single-Vehicle Number | Single-Vehicle Percent | Multiple-Vehicle Number | Multiple-Vehicle Percent | Total Number | Total Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal Crashes | |||||||
| Collision with Vehicle in Transport | 0 | 0.0% | 2,227 | 93.4% | 2,227 | 74.6% | |
| Collision with Fixed Object | 189 | 31.3% | 63 | 2.6% | 252 | 8.4% | |
| Collision with Pedestrian | 204 | 33.8% | 23 | 1.0% | 227 | 7.6% | |
| Overturn (Rollover) | 95 | 15.8% | 34 | 1.4% | 129 | 4.3% | |
| Collision with Pedalcycle | 54 | 9.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 54 | 1.8% | |
| Collision with Parked Motor Vehicle | 17 | 2.8% | 7 | 0.3% | 24 | 0.8% | |
| Collision with Train | 12 | 2.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 12 | 0.4% | |
| Collision with Other Object | 7 | 1.2% | 8 | 0.3% | 15 | 0.5% | |
| Collision with Animal | 3 | 0.5% | 6 | 0.3% | 9 | 0.3% | |
| Explosion/Fire | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Other | 14 | 2.3% | 5 | 0.2% | 19 | 0.6% | |
| Unknown | 8 | 1.3% | 11 | 0.5% | 19 | 0.6% | |
| Total | 603 | 100.0% | 2,384 | 100.0% | 2,987 | 100.0% | |
| Injury Crashes | |||||||
| Collision with Vehicle in Transport | * | * | 42,000 | 96.3% | 42,000 | 81.9% | |
| Collision with Fixed Object | 3,000 | 40.0% | 1,000 | 2.6% | 4,000 | 8.1% | |
| Collision with Pedestrian | * | 6.4% | * | * | 1,000 | 1.0% | |
| Overturn (Rollover) | 3,000 | 37.6% | * | 0.3% | 3,000 | 5.9% | |
| Collision with Pedalcycle | * | 4.2% | * | * | * | 0.6% | |
| Collision with Parked Motor Vehicle | * | 4.9% | * | 0.1% | * | 0.8% | |
| Collision with Train | * | 1.4% | * | * | * | * | |
| Collision with Other Object | * | 0.8% | * | 0.2% | * | 0.3% | |
| Collision with Animal | * | 1.5% | * | * | * | 0.2% | |
| Jackknife | * | 0.5% | * | 0.4% | * | 0.4% | |
| Explosion/Fire | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Other | * | 2.6% | * | * | * | 0.4% | |
| Total | 8,000 | 100.0% | 44,000 | 100.0% | 51,000 | 100.0% | |
| Property Damage Only Crashes | |||||||
| Collision with Vehicle in Transport | * | * | 147,000 | 97.8% | 147,000 | 63.5% | |
| Collision with Fixed Object | 25,000 | 31.0% | 2,000 | 1.3% | 27,000 | 11.7% | |
| Collision with Pedestrian | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Overturn (Rollover) | 3,000 | 3.7% | * | * | 3,000 | 1.4% | |
| Collision with Pedalcycle | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Collision with Parked Motor Vehicle | 41,000 | 49.8% | * | * | 41,000 | 17.5% | |
| Collision with Train | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Collision with Other Object | 2,000 | 2.4% | * | * | 2,000 | 0.8% | |
| Collision with Animal | 7,000 | 8.2% | * | * | 7,000 | 2.9% | |
| Jackknife | 1,000 | 1.4% | * | * | 1,000 | 0.5% | |
| Explosion/Fire | 1,000 | 1.6% | * | * | 1,000 | 0.6% | |
| Other | 1,000 | 1.8% | 1,000 | 0.7% | 2,000 | 1.1% | |
| Total | 81,000 | 100.0% | 151,000 | 100.0% | 232,000 | 100.0% | |
If you have been involved in a truck accident and need a personal injury attorney, call McGraw Law & Associates at: (575) 323-1529
Las Cruces, NM
