• 21
  • November
    2011

Truck collisions are some of the scariest road hazards out there. A fully-loaded semi can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, while the average automobile weighs only 5,000 pounds. In a car-versus-truck collision, this weight differential means that even if the truck only sustains minimal damage, the occupants of a car are often lucky to escape with their lives.

Texas motor vehicle accident attorneys see far too many accidents in which motorists are killed or suffer serious injury at the hands of a negligent commercial truck driver.

Fortunately, new data shows this trend is on the decline. According to the latest report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), fatal crashes involving large trucks dropped by 31 percent between 2007 and 2009. During that same time period, the number of crashes resulting in injury fell by 30 percent.

The decrease means that the United States now sees one fatal truck crash for every 100 million miles driven.

Over the last decade, the fatal truck accident rate has dropped by 54.5 percent. By comparison, the passenger vehicle fatal crash rate has fallen by about 25 percent since 2000.

New Regulations Led to Increased Safety

The safety gains come after years of work by the FMCSA to increase truck safety. According to the administration, the safety gains are the result of a number of factors including improvements in technology and a new push toward slower, more fuel-efficient driving. They also credit increased regulation and new enforcement techniques.

Source: Truck News, "Fewer truck-related deaths on U.S. roads in 2009," 16 November 2011