According to a new study released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in March of 2006 (the Large Truck Crash Causation Study detailed below), drivers of large trucks and other vehicles involved in truck crashes are ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash than other factors, such as weather, road conditions, and vehicle performance. Action or inaction by the driver of either the truck or other vehicle was cited as the critical reason for 88 percent of the crashes. To view a Press Release from the FMCSA about the study, click here

 

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) is based on a three-year data collection project conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). LTCCS is the first-ever national study to attempt to determine the critical events and associated factors that contribute to serious large truck crashes so agencies within DOT and others can implement effective countermeasures to reduce the occurrence and severity of these crashes. The results of the study were released in March of 2006.

 

For the purposes of the LTCCS, a "truck" is defined as “a vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for carrying property, with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of more than 10,000 lbs.” During the three-year study period of the project, FMCSA estimated that there were approximately 141,000 large trucks involved in fatal, incapacitating, and non-incapacitating injury crashes.