The latest national highway fatality figures, issued Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), show the trucking industry holding its own in regard to highway safety.

While the NHTSA report shows a slight increase in truck-related fatalities -- from 4,939 in 2002 to 4,986 in 2003 -- the toll remains below 5,000 for the second year in a row.
Safety experts with the American Trucking Assns. (ATA) cite several factors as having a role in continuing the positive trend in truck safety. They include active participation in U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta’s Safety Belt Partnership, aimed at increasing safety belt use among commercial vehicle drivers; increasing professionalism among the driver corps; and an ongoing focus by motor carriers to hire, train and retain the best truck drivers.
Nonetheless, say the ATA safety experts, the statistics show the trucking industry must continue working with the larger highway community. The majority of truck crashes involve at least one passenger vehicle. And errors on the part of passenger car drivers cause up to 75% of all car-truck crashes.
ATA’s Share the Road program, sponsored by Mack Trucks, targets this problem, traveling to U.S. cities and providing demonstrations on how motorists can drive safely around large trucks.
ATA remains hopeful that final truck mileage data for 2003, when released later this year, will show that truck-related crash rates remain at a historic low.