A study released Tuesday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety confirmed what truckers and the U.S. Department of Transportation have been saying for years: Car drivers are most often to blame for crashes involving a car and a big rig.

The foundation’s analysis of fatal crash data found that “driver factors were much more likely to be recorded for car drivers than for truck drivers involved in fatal crashes.” Driving around a big truck is different from driving near a passenger car, but many motorists don't change their behavior to adjust for the difference, according to the study.
The study found that driver errors, on part of both car and truck drivers, account for more than half of fatal car-truck crashes -- 54%. The most common problem areas are:

• Failure to keep in lane or running off the road

• Failure to yield the right of way;

• Driving too fast for conditions or above speed limit

• Failure to obey signs and signals and

• Driver inattention.

"Motorists don't recognize that trucks behave very differently from cars, so they think trucks can stop on a dime and change lanes quickly," says J. Peter Kissinger, CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "In reality, trucks take a long time to stop and cannot whip from lane to lane. As a result, a mistake near a truck can have catastrophic consequences for a motorist. In fact, in our study 98% of the fatalities were car occupants."
In response to the study results, AAA announced a nationwide campaign to educate drivers about ways to reduce crashes involving cars and trucks. As part of its campaign, AAA is re-launching its "Share With Care" program that offers practical advice to car and truck drivers on ways to avoid truck/car crashes.