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A Comprehensive Study of Single and Multiple Truck Crashes Using Violation and Crash Data
Abstract
Around 4,000 people died in crashes involving trucks in 2016 alone in the U.S., with 21 percent of these fatalities involving only single-unit trucks. Many studies have identified the underlying factors for truck crashes. However, few studies detected the factors unique to single and multiple crashes, and none have examined these underlying factors in conjunction with violation data. The current research assessed all of these factors using two approaches to improve truck safety. An injury/fatal crash was defined as a crash that results in an injury or fatality. The first approach investigated the contributory factors that increased the odds of injury/fatal single truck and multiple vehicle crashes with involvement of at least one truck. The literature has indicated that previous violations can be used to predict future violations and crashes. Therefore, the second approach used violations related to driver actions that could result in truck crashes. The analysis for the first approach indicated that driving on dry-roadway surfaces, driver distraction, and rollover/jackknife types of truck crashes, speed compliance failure, and higher posted speed limits are some of the factors that increased the odds of injury/fatal single and multiple vehicle crashes. With the second approach, the violations related to risky driver actions, which were underlying causes of truck crashes, were identified and analyses were run to identify the groups at increased risk of truck involved crashes. The results of violations indicated that being nonresident, driving off peak hours, and driving on weekends could increase the risk of truck involved crashes.
