A number of aspects connected with the operation and safety of trucks are discussed in this paper. The involvement rate of trucks in road accidents is found to be lower than that of passenger cars and buses; similarly, there is a decreasing trend in accident rate with an increase in gross vehicle weight. In contrast, the fatality rate in truck accidents is found to be higher than that involving passenger cars; also, a tendency exists toward an increase in the relative proportion of fatal accidents with an increase in gross vehicle weight. A multiplicity of injuries in truck-involved accidents is also noticed. It is concluded that the injury and fatality victims in such accidents are more likely to be the passengers and drivers of the other vehicles involved or pedestrians. Finally, a relatively high truck involvement is found in front-rear, side, and single-vehicle accidents.

Road accidents in which trucks are involved generally arouse great public interest and sensitivity, mainly because of their relatively high severity and the heavy economic damage accompanying them. In recent years, this sensitivity appears to have been heightened in light of the fact that trucks have been made larger and passenger cars smaller. The relatively high severity of accidents involving trucks is a direct result of their basic characteristics, which, according to Neilson et al.(1) are as follows:(a) relatively large mass, resulti;;-g in instant velocity changes in smaller vehicles that strike them;(b) high rigidity of structure, resulting in most of the energy loss being dissipated in the collapse of the smaller vehicle; and (c) misalignment of structures, the height of truck structures resulting in damage to the upper and weaker parts of smaller vehicles. Despite the high severity of truck accidents, the accident rate for trucks may be expected to be lower than that for passenger vehicles. Following are some of the reasons for this apparent anomaly: