Survivors of these incidents may suffer permanent disabilities. The cargo area, or bed of the pickup, is a non-passenger area that was not designed to safely carry passengers. Studies in California found that persons riding in the cargo area of pickups were more likely to be ejected and to be more seriously injured than persons riding in the cab. Pickup bed-related TBI's may be more likely to occur today because of the increase in the popularity of the pickup truck, both as a work vehicle and a recreational vehicle. The number of light trucks registered in 1975 amounted to 20 million, rising to 39 million in 1991.
Many people fail to recognize the dangers of traveling or playing in the back of a pickup truck.
Data has been collected statewide on hospitalized and fatal TBIs in Oklahoma since 1992. This update describes the 64 TBI's which were related to either falling or being ejected from the bed of a moving pickup truck from 1992 to 1995. Two injuries were work-related. Hospital stays for injured persons ranged from 1 to 61 days with an average stay of 5 days. A man was working picking up caution cones from a roadway when he fell from the bed of the pickup he was riding in and struck his head on the pavement.