Surveillance of occupational highway deaths of tractor trailer drivers, 2009

In 2009, more than 250 tractor trailer drivers were fatally injured in highway accidents. This presentation provides an analysis of these fatal injuries using data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

These two data sets are combined to provide a more complete description of these fatal injuries. Data from CFOI include decedent's industry and occupation, demographic information, date and time of incident, and the nature of the fatal injuries. FARS provides additional data, such as road type, driving conditions (weather, light, and surface), speed limit, driver avoidance maneuvers, and information about other persons and vehicles involved in each incident. Each fatality record from CFOI is supplemented by FARS data to provide a more detailed description of the factors of each fatality.

Some preliminary results include: Almost three quarters of tractor trailer driver fatalities occurred on rural roads (particularly rural interstates), and most occurred on dry roadways with no adverse weather conditions. More than 60 percent of fatalities on rural roads occurred where the speed limit was 60 mph or more. In the majority of these incidents, including collisions with other vehicles, the tractor trailer driver is the only fatality. Tractor trailer drivers are mostly likely to be fatally injured by striking an object on the side of the road while other drivers are most likely to be killed in a collision with another vehicle.