The hypothesis is too simple, he said. Consider that in collisions where both drivers live, it is still at least twice as likely that a driving error is attributed to the operator of the passenger vehicle. Blower examined close to 5,500 fatal two-vehicle accidents involving heavy trucks in a study funded by the Federal Office of Motor Carriers. In the first part of the study, he validated evidence that passenger vehicles instigate a disproportionate number of crashes. Investigators use more than just dri-ver accounts to reconstruct accidents, Blower said.
Much information comes directly from the accident site.
Almost 23 percent of collisions between trucks and passenger vehicles are head-ons in which the vehicle crosses into the truck's path. That occurs eight times more often than a truck crossing into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Passenger vehicles are six times more likely to sideswipe trucks going in the opposite direction and four times more likely to rear-end them. Briefly Noted Standard MEMS Inc. of Burlington, Mass., and Blue Road Research of Portland, Ore., have agreed in principal to combine businesses. The companies expect to sign a definitive agreement by the end of the year.