Book Description

The objective of this study was to determine the nature and extent of urban freeway accidents involving trucks, over 10,000 lb gross vehicle weight, and their consequences as a function of vehicle type and traffic and roadway characteristics. The study was limited to urban freeways and expressways with large total volumes (minimum 100,000 average daily traffic) and a significant percentage of large truck traffic (minimum 5%). The primary tasks involved a review of the literature, and the analysis of accident and operational data from selected urban freeway sites. A total of 2,221 verified truck accidents were included in the study occurring during 3.75 years on 46.5 miles of freeway. The study determined the characteristics of truck accidents, developed comparisons between truck and passenger vehicle accidents, and estimated the operational and economic consequences of truck accidents. An estimate of the total annual cost of urban freeway accidents was determined to be 634,000 dollars per freeway mile. Applying this estimate to the total 2,497 Interstate and freeway miles, with volumes greater than 100,000 vehicles per day, that exist nationwide results in a nationwide annual cost of 1.6 billion dollars due to truck accidents on urban freeways.