Quote:
Originally Posted by GMAN
You need to look at the figures involving truck accidents with a grain of salt. In the past they have included pickup trucks and similar vehicles in their statistics. Technically, a pickup is a truck but there is much difference between a pickup and an 18 wheeler. I would like to see the numbers broken out to separate big trucks from all of the others.
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whole story is at this link:
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul...cal/me-crash23
Car vs. Big Rig: Usually Loser’s Fault
By Hugo MartÃ*n
July 23, 2002 in print edition B-6
Car drivers are most often to blame for fatal accidents with big-rig trucks and are most likely to die in those crashes, according to a national study to be released today. The study of more than 10,000 fatal accidents by the Automobile Assn. of America’s Foundation for Traffic Safety determined that car drivers cause most collisions with big rigs by speeding, failing to yield or cutting in the path of the trucks.
Of those killed in the car-versus-truck accidents, 98% are car drivers or their passengers, the study concluded.
The study echoed the findings of previous research that blamed the drivers of passenger vehicles for most collisions with big rigs. But for the first time, the AAA study sought to determine the most common driving behavior that results in such accidents.
The study did not calculate how often car drivers were at fault nationally. But the Automobile Club of Southern California estimated that, among those accidents in which police determined who was to blame, car drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians were blamed for 69% of their accidents with big rigs in California last year.
Fatalities resulting from accidents involving big rigs dropped in California to 396 last year, from 412 in 2000, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The findings of the national study are significant for Southern California motorists who find themselves increasingly sharing congested roads with big rigs. Due to a surge in overseas cargo shipments, big rig traffic from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has increased steadily and is expected to more than triple by 2020, from 30,000 trips a day to 100,000.
“Car drivers need to realize that greater precautions must be taken when driving near trucks,” said Steven Bloch, senior researcher for AAA.
Such accidents are most often blamed on car drivers who fail to stay in their lanes, refuse to yield right of way to big rigs, drive too fast for conditions or otherwise break traffic laws, according to the AAA study.