Alcohol is much less of a problem among truck drivers than among drivers of passenger vehicles. Police report that in more than 70 percent of all fatal crashes involving passenger vehicles and large trucks, the driver of the passenger vehicle rather than the driver of the truck caused the crash.
Fatal crashes involving trucks are highest in adverse weather conditions .
No adverse weather conditions were reported for 83 percent of the fatal crashes and for 85 percent of the nonfatal crashes involving large trucks in 1998. In crashes in which adverse weather was a factor, rain was the most common condition. Most fatal truck crashes are related to truck driver fatigue . Just 4 percent of all fatal truck crashes are fatigue-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A tractor running without its trailer stops much faster than a loaded tractor-trailer combination.