In 2007, 4,808 people died in crashes involving large trucks,1 and 83,908 were injured.2 Each person, each family, could have been spared this trauma. That same year, 802 truck drivers died on the job — one of the highest numbers of employee deaths of all U.S. industries.3 Truck drivers are asked to adhere to unreasonable delivery schedules and denied adequate rest or time at home. Instead of asking them to drive even more dangerous rigs, the industry needs to address the serious problems that nearly 3.5 million American truck drivers face each day.4

Now, truck drivers and motorists alike are threatened with even greater risks by dangerous proposals for bigger, heavier trucks.

But trucking interests are fighting to put Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs) on our roads — like triple-trailer trucks over 100 feet long and over 100,000 pounds. They also propose turnpike doubles — 120-foot double-trailer trucks weighing up to 135,000 pounds and more .

Bigger and heavier trucks are a bad idea. 80,000-pound big rigs are twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as trucks weighing up to 50,000 pounds.⁵ (The average car weighs around 3,250 pounds.⁶)

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¹ Traffic Safety Facts, Final Edition, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA),2008

² Id.

³ Id.

⁴ American Trucking Association, ATA Recognized Professional Truck Drivers During National Truck Driver Appreciation Month, 2008.

⁵ K.L. Campbell, et al., “Analysis of Accident Rates of Heavy-Duty Vehicles,” UMTRI-88-77, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, April 1988. http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/770 (page 71).

⁶ NHTSA Spreadsheet, Passenger Care and Light Truck Fleets Characteristics. http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/CAFE/NewPassengerCarFleet.htm