While overall highway traffic deaths for 2002 increased, preliminary figures issued Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate a drop in car-truck crash fatalities.

If the preliminary numbers remain unchanged, the 2002 car-truck crash fatality toll of 4,902 -- a 3.5% decline over last year -- will mark the trucking industry's best highway safety improvement in nearly a decade, and the first time the annual figure has dropped below 5,000 since 1995.
"America's professional truck drivers strive every day to be the safest motorists on the road," said Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Assns. (ATA).
"Because the highways are our workplace -- we drive over 400 billion miles a year -- our motor carriers and their drivers have long accepted their responsibility on the roads," said Graves. "Through ATA's Share the Road program, we connect directly with other motorists, teaching them how to drive safely around large trucks. Our Highway Watch program, in conjunction with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (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."
NHTSA collects crash statistics from 50 states and the District of Columbia to produce its annual report on traffic fatality trends. The decline in car-truck fatalities appears to be the only positive news in the 2002 figures. Alcohol-related deaths, motorcycle fatalities and young driver deaths all showed an increase.
"Although this 3.5% decline in fatalities is a positive trend, the American trucking industry believes more common sense steps can be taken to save 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."