February 11, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Collisions are the most common cause of truckdriver fatalities

Truckdrivers have more work-related fatalities than any other occupation, accounting for 14 percent of all job related deaths in 1998. The most common cause of truckdriver fatality in 1998 was "collision between vehicles."

[Chart data—TXT]

Also significantly contributing to truckdriver fatalities were "non-collision accidents" and "vehicle struck on side of road." Next, were "contact with objects" and "worker struck by vehicle." The remaining truckdriver fatalities included "assaults and violent acts," "collision between railway and other vehicle," "falls," "exposure to harmful substances", and instances in which the vehicle "struck an object in the roadway (highway)."

Data on workplace fatalities are from the BLS Safety and Health Statistics Program. To learn more about truckdriver fatalities, see "The Unforgiving Road: Trucker Fatalities" (PDF 65K), by Peggy Suarez, Compensation and Working Conditions, Winter 1999.