FIRES AND FATALITIES IN TRACTOR-SEMITRAILER ACCIDENTS

An analysis of all 3,296 fatal traffic accidents involving tractor-semitrailer combination vehicles in 1980 established that 780 occupants of 724 road tractors were fatally injured. Among those fatalities were 125 occupants, or one in six, who were fatally injured in accidents in which the tractor caught fire. That incidence of fire-associated fatalities among occupants of diesel-fueled road tractors is 15 times as high as the corresponding fatality rate among passenger car occupants (per registered vehicles per year) and three times as high on a per-mile basis. The putative causes and some potential solutions are discussed here.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/9187496
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

  2901 Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109-2150
• Authors:
  • O'Day, J
• Publication Date: 1983-9

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 16 p.
• Serial:
  • UMTRI Research Review
  • Volume: 14
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
  • ISSN: 0739-7100

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash analysis; Crash causes; Diesel trucks; Fatalities; Fires; Statistics; Tractor trailer combinations; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00381327
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-036 530
• Files: HSL, TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 30 1984 12:00AM