Tractor Trailer And Big Truck Accidents - Truck Accident Fatalities
Tractor trailer truck accident lawyers take seriously continuing their education of semi truck accident related laws and statistics. The more information a big truck accident attorney has at their discretion when they represent truck accident victim, the better prepared they are to maximize the compensation received by their client. The following statistical information is taken directly from The Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Transportation Fatality Rates
There were about 45,500 fatalities related to transportation in 2002—16 fatalities per 100,000 U.S. residents1 [1, 2, 4]. This is the same rate as in 1992, when there were about 42,000 deaths. Approximately 94 percent of all transportation fatalities in 2002 were highway-related (figure 9-1). Most of these people who died were occupants of passenger cars or light trucks (including pickups, sport utility vehicles, and minivans). Air, rail, transit, water, and pipeline transportation result in comparatively few deaths per capita. For instance, railroads contributed about 0.33 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2002.2
Overall, highway safety remained about the same between 1992 and 2002 when compared to the size of the population. There were around 15 fatalities per 100,000 residents each year over the entire period. Highway fatalities declined 15 percent for occupants of passenger cars, but increased 34 percent for occupants of light trucks between 1992 and 2002 (figure 9-2). (This is a period during which the number of registered light trucks increased from 57 million to 85 million [3].) Motorcyclist fatalities per 100,000 residents have been rising since 1997.
Similar trends in highway fatality rates are apparent when the rate is based on vehicle-miles traveled (vmt). Passenger car occupant fatalities per 100 million vmt declined 21 percent between 1992 and 2002, while light-truck occupant fatalities per 100 million vmt rose 10 percent (figure 9-3). Motorcyclist fatalities grew 36 percent during the period. However, after falling from 25 fatalities per 100 million vmt in 1992 to 21 fatalities per 100 million vmt in 1997, motorcyclist fatalities grew 62 percent by 2002.3
Years of Potential Life Lost from Transportation Accidents
For people under 65 years of age, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has ranked transportation accidents as the third leading cause of death in the United States (after cancer and heart disease) each year from 1991 to 2000. During those years, an average of nearly 36,000 people under 65 died each year from transportation accidents.5
While transportation accidents amounted to 6 percent of the deaths of those under age 65 between 1991 and 2000, these fatalities represented 10 percent of the total years of potential life lost (YPLL) during this period (figure 9-4). YPLL, which is computed by adding up the remaining life expectancies of all victims (up to 65 years of age) at their deaths, is a measurement that accounts for the age distribution among different causes of injury mortality and other common causes of death (box 9-B). The difference between the percentage of deaths and YPLL indicates that people who die from transportation accidents tend to be younger on average than victims of other causes of death.
Motor vehicle crashes are the most frequent cause of transportation-related fatalities. YPLLs associated with deaths related to motor vehicle accidents can be compared with YPLLs for deaths from all other modes of transportation (figure 9-5). This shows that, over the 9 years, motor vehicle deaths also contributed to the bulk of YPLLs due to transportation accidents.
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