ATA Says Early Figures Indicate Historic Drop in Car-Truck Fatalities; If Forecast Holds, Toll Would Be Lowest in Nearly a Decade.

Automotive Writers

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2003

While overall highway traffic fatalities for 2002 increased, preliminary figures issued today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicate a drop in car-truck crash fatalities.

If the preliminary numbers remain unchanged, the 2002 car-truck crash fatality toll of 4,902, a 3.5% decline over last year, will mark the trucking industry's best highway safety improvement in nearly a decade and the first time the annual figure has dropped below 5,000 since 1995.

"America's professional truck drivers strive every day to be the safest motorists on the road," said Bill Graves, President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations (ATA). "They know that for every mile they drive, their number one priority is to be safe."

Graves said that ATA accepts the challenge issued today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who said: "If we're ever going to reduce the needless deaths on our nation's highways, we're going to need the American public to bear greater responsibility for their personal safety."

"Because the highways are our workplace--we drive over 400 billion miles a year--our motor carriers and their drivers have long accepted their responsibility on the roads," said Graves. "Through ATA's Share the Road program, we connect directly with other motorists, teaching them how to drive safely around large trucks. Our Highway Watch program, in conjunction with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), trains truck drivers to spot aggressive drivers and dangerous highway situations and report them to authorities. We believe that these public education efforts have helped to produce these low fatality numbers."

NHTSA collects crash statistics from 50 states and the District of Columbia to produce its annual report on traffic fatality trends. The decline in car-truck fatalities appeared to be the only positive news in the 2002 figures. Alcohol-related deaths, motorcycle fatalities, and young driver deaths each showed an increase.

"Although this 3.5% decline in fatalities is a positive trend, the American trucking industry believes more commonsense steps can be taken to save lives," concluded ATA's Graves. "If we all insist on increased, visible traffic enforcement for cars and trucks--especially for speeders--then we'll continue to see the numbers move in the right direction."

(See www.nhtsa.dot.gov)