A preliminary report on 2003 highway deaths issued Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that truck-involved fatalities may drop below 5,000
for the second year in a row.
If the count is confirmed, the estimated 4,942 truck-involved fatalities for 2003 would mark a 0.9% increase from the 4,897 deaths reported in DOT’s 2002 report.
While trucking was the only highway user group to record a drop in fatalities in 2002, the industry this time recorded the smallest increase of all highway user groups.
"With the total number of highway fatalities increasing across the board," said Bill Graves, ATA president and CEO, "all highway user groups need to keep working together to help save lives."
"Of special concern to us," Graves continued, "is the number of solo truck drivers who died in crashes because they weren’t wearing their safety belt. These deaths are preventable and unnecessary. We’ll continue to work within DOT Secretary Norman Mineta’s Safety Belt Partnership to address this serious issue."
NHTSA annually collects crash data from 50 states and the District of Columbia to produce its annual report on traffic fatality trends. The final report in generally available in early fall.