While the number of highway fatalities remained virtually unchanged between 1999 and 2000, large truck crash fatalities dropped 3 percent.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta announced Monday that 41,821 people died on the nation's highways in 2000, compared to 41,717 in 1999, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The 2000 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) assessment by NHTSA found that fatalities involving large trucks dropped from 5,380 in 1999 to 5,211 in 2000.
"This is a tribute to the good, hard work of the men and women who make up our industry,' said William Canary, interim president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations. "They try every day and every mile to make our highways safer for all who use them."
Canary also credited continued industry support for tougher driver standards, increased roadside inspections by the states, and better targeting of high risk drivers and motor carriers.
NHTSA collects crash statistics from the 50 states and the District of Columbia to produce the annual FARS assessment.