The number of fatalities involving large trucks dropped slightly last year, for the fourth year in a row, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Overall, NHTSA estimates show traffic fatality and injury rates remained at historic lows in 2001. The preliminary fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles (VMT) was 1.50 in 2001, a statistically insignificant change from the final 2000 rate of 1.52. The total number of people killed in highway crashes in 2001 was estimated to be 41,730, compared to 41,821 in 2000. The number of people injured dropped from 3.2 million in 2000 to 3 million in 2001. In 2001, vehicle miles traveled increased slightly to 2.778 trillion in 2001, up from 2.75 trillion in 2000.
NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) also shows that, in 2001, Fatalities involving large truck crashes dropped from 5,211 in 2000 to 5,192 in 2001. This compares to 5,380 in 1999 and 5,395 in 1998.
Despite the improvement, “the fact that more than 5,000 of our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, sweethearts, and friends are being lost every year is intolerable,” said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Joseph M. Clapp. “This apparent improvement is heartening and encourages us to work closer and harder with our safety partners in federal, state and local government, the private sector, and all those interested in improving motor carrier safety.”
NHTSA annually collects crash statistics from 50 states and the District of Columbia to produce the annual report on traffic fatality trends. The final 2001 report will be available in August. Summaries of the preliminary report are available on the NHTSA website at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.