With the fifth straight annual drop in truck-involved fatalities, the U.S. trucking industry and its safety programs helped produce one of the few bright spots in the nation's latest highway safety report.

According to figures released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the trucking industry recorded its best highway safety improvement in nearly a decade as the number of truck-involved crash fatalities dropped below 5,000 for the first time since 1995.
The 2002 toll of 4,897 fatalities marks a 4.2% decline from the 2001 figure.
"This positive news is a tribute to our professional truck drivers and our motor carriers who work hard every mile, every hour, every day to safely share the road with other motorists," said Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Assns. (ATA).
The drop in truck-related highway deaths came as overall traffic fatalities in the U.S. increased from 42,196 in 2001 to 42,815 in 2002. Alcohol-related deaths, motorcycles fatalities and young driver deaths each showed an increase.
"The highways are our workplace-- our drivers travel over 400 billion miles a year. We recognize and accept the special safety responsibility that this brings," said Graves. "Through ATA's Share the Road program--sponsored by Mack Trucks -- we connect directly with other motorists, teaching them how to drive safely around large trucks. This program is especially important since research by both the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that over 70% of all fatal car-truck crashes begin with an error on the part of the car driver.
"In addition, our Highway Watch program -- in conjunction with FMCSA – trains truck drivers to spot aggressive drivers and dangerous highway situations and report them to authorities. We believe that these public education efforts have helped to produce these low fatality numbers.
"While this continues a positive trend of reduced fatalities, we believe that additional common sense steps can save more lives," Graves said. "If we all insist on increased, visible traffic enforcement for cars and trucks – especially for speeders -- then we'll continue to see the numbers move in the right direction."