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Technical Paper

Heavy Truck Cab Safety Study

1991-10-01
912903
Nearly 1000 occupants of large trucks die each year in traffic accidents. Examination of yearly trends shows about a 25% decline in tractor-driver fatalities from 674 in 1984 to 508 in 1987. Over that same period of time, reported restraint use by tractor drivers involved in fatal accidents increased from 9.6% to 37.3%. The primary factors associated with tractor driver fatalities remain the same as identified in earlier studies. About 80% are single vehicle accidents. Rollover is identified as the most harmful event in 41.4% and frontal impact is the most harmful event in 40.3%. Thirty-four percent of the fatally injured tractor drivers were ejected and 21.5% required extrication. Fire on the truck was associated with 16.2% of the tractor driver fatalities. The recent TIFA data on restrained truck drivers indicates that restraint use reduces the probability of fatality by about 77%.
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