CRASH Press Release: Seniors' Safe Driving Habits and Heavy Trucks Mix with Lethal Results
08/21/96
Senior Driver's Safe Driving Habits and Heavy Trucks Mix with Lethal
Results: New study finds aging car drivers are killed in big rig
crashes three times as often as younger drivers. Truck sizes and
weights combined with aggressive trucking industry practices put older
drivers at risk.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20 --- At a press conference today in
San Francisco, truck safety advocates Citizens for Reliable and Safe
Highways (CRASH) released an analysis of national highway death
statistics which found that drivers over the age of 65 have more than
3.2 times the chance of dying in a heavy truck crash as do drivers
aged 16 to 64.
The study of U.S. Department of Transportation "Fatal Accident
Reporting System" (FARS) data from 1988-1993, was conducted by
R.D. Mingo and Associates and entitled "The Safety Record of Heavy
Trucks and Older Drivers: An Analysis of Five Years of Large-Scale
Accident Data."
"So-called 'frailty' does not explain older drivers' over-involvement
in fatal crashes," Mingo said. "Though they are the least likely to
travel in the presence of large trucks, they are the most likely to be
killed by them."
Mingo's analysis points out that while the physiological effects of
aging can account for the difference in fatal Crashes between old and
young in the case of car crashes, it cannot explain why older drivers
are involved in so many more fatal crashes with heavy trucks.
"It is actually older drivers' compensation for the effects of aging
-- driving at the speed limit -- that contributes to their high
fatality rate," said Mingo. "By all standards, many older drivers are
model drivers."
The speed differential between trucks and older drivers, who generally
drive the speed limit so that they will have more time to read signs
and react to traffic patterns, causes them to be struck from behind.
Drivers over the age of 65 are six times as likely to be killed by
being hit from behind by a heavy truck as are drivers under the age of
65.
"This statistic is more frightening when we consider how many more
older driver there will be when baby-boomers are over 65," said Mingo.
In a survey done by Dr. Leonard Evans, Principal Research Scientist
for General Motors Research Labs, road hazards to older drivers are
reflected in their list of fears:
* tailgating by large trucks
* trucks obstructing their view of traffic signs
* blinding truck headlamps (approaching and in rear-view mirrors)
* speeding of truck drivers
* spray and aerodynamic buffeting from trucks
The driving habits of older drivers reflect an attempt to avoid
high-risk situations in general, and large tracks in particular. The
literature shows that older drivers:
* travel mainly during daylight hours
* avoid Interstate driving
* avoid trucks
According to Andrew McGuire, Executive Director of the Trauma
Foundation at San Francisco General Hospital, and CRASH Board Member,
"Those who have devoted their lives to trauma and injury care know
that heavy truck crashes are devastating for all involved. Match an
80,000 pound big rig against a 2,000 pound car and the results, as
emergency will attest, are catastrophic.
"Trucking company lobbyists will tell you larger and heavier trucks
are needed to increase productivity," McGuire added. "Their incessant
drive for the increased profits such a policy would produce is obscene
because these policies will also produce more crashes, more deaths,
more destruction and more injuries."
The increased profits associated with increased productivity are made
at the expense of public safety as truck drivers and all other
motorists fall victim to unsafe trucking practices.
"Highly competitive delivery schedules and an archaic compensation
system often compel us to speed and forgo rest, creating a deadly
combination," said 17 year veteran truck driver Gary Williams.
A recent crash on Highway 101 in Petaluma, California, killed a truck
driver trying to adhere to a schedule which encouraged him to speed
and take risks. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, truck
driving is a deadly way to make a living. Three times more truck
drivers were killed in 1994 than any other single group of employees.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has declared this week to be
"Truck Driver Appreciation Week." "The nation's trucking industry
could best show their appreciation by removing the incentive for truck
drivers to speed and go without sleep," said Williams. "Trucking
companies need to work out safe and sane schedules for the good of
truckers and the safety of all motorists, especially our aging driving
population who are at greatest risk."
Williams pointed out, however, that "the trucking industry has a
history of denying the relationship between their operating practices
and the endangerment of truck drivers or other motorists. They say
that car drivers are responsible for 71% of the crashes that result in
deaths to car occupants."
In 1995, 96 percent of truck crash fatalities were the occupants of
cars. "The trucking industry's response to the suffering and death
caused by truck crashes is disturbing," Williams said. "Not only is
their claim insensitive, it is untrue." According to a 1996 Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) motor carrier safety evaluation, none of
the available methods of collecting truck data was adequate in
assessing blame.
In fact, numerous studies have shown fault to be equally distributed
between car and truck drivers in non-fatal crashes. But in fatal
crashes truck drivers are assigned fault less than one third of the
time. In those crashes, fault is determined largely on the basis of
the representations of the surviving party which in over 9 or 10 fatal
crashes is the truck driver. Therefore, passenger car drivers, and
especially older drivers, are disproportionately and falsely blamed
for causing crashes with trucks.
CRASH member Carmen Worden, who lost two older family members in a
heavy truck collision said, "The fact is that the trucking industry is
in no small way responsible for a serious public health problem facing
older drivers. Trucking companies must acknowledge the death,
devastation and lifelong pain the vehicles and driving practices
cause, and then make the changes that will save lives."
She added, "My mother and aunt were sacrificed on the alter of
commerce so that a trucking company could achieve a better bottom
line."
CRASH displayed a 120 foot Longer Combination Vehicle (LCV) at its
press conference in front of San Francisco's City Hall to symbolize
the threat to all drivers of trucks this size. These inherently
dangerous big rigs, with two or more trailers, extend as long as 120
feet and are as heavy as 56 cars. Federal Highway legislation in 1997
could make these Longer Combination Vehicles commonplace in California
by the time City Hall's earthquake retrofit is finished.
LCVs would be particularly dangerous to older drivers because they
take much longer to pass; are difficult to see around; may wander into
adjacent lanes due to a "crack-the-whip" effect and instability in
wind; and go slower on up hills and faster on down hills.
In closing, Joseph Lustig, who works with the families of truck crash
victims for CRASH, said, "The trucking industry feigns surprise each
year that there are so many seemingly random mishaps that involve a
truck, a car, and a fatality. Make no mistake: 5,000 deaths and
100,000 serious injuries from truck crashes each year represent a
deadly cycle which the trucking industry callously excepts as
'business as usual.' Our 42,000 members are determined to break that
cycle of needless death, destruction and family trauma. Trucking
companies cannot continue with 'business as usual.' The public wants
safer roads, and that means safer trucks, safer schedules, safer
drivers. In California, that also means we will never see trucks this
big and this dangerous on our roads."
CRASH is a San Francisco based, nationwide, grassroots safety
organization dedicated to reducing the devastation, deaths and
injuries caused by truck-related crashes. Members and supporters of
CRASH come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, including law
enforcement, medicine, the clergy, public health, truck crash victims
and survivors and truck drivers and their families. To join their
efforts to make the highways safe for all who use them, the public is
invited to call 1-800-CRASH-12 or visit the CRASH web site at
www.trucksafety.org.
