From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Thu Feb 13 2003 - 07:53:29 MST
-----Original Message-----
From: EvMick@aol.com [mailto:EvMick@aol.com]
Addittionally.
"In the last several years there have been (very approximately...I don't
have the numbers in front of me) about 4 or 5 thousand of the above
mentioned highway deaths that involved "Big Trucks".....that is ....semi's.
Of that number the Federal Agency involved in regulating transportation...
(what was it's name...let's see...FHMVSA?...DOT?....ICC?....dunno for
sure....there are sooooooooo many of them)..........states that over 80% of
all fatal accidents involving an automobile and a semi (a four-wheeler and a
big truck)...were caused by the driver of the auto."
That doesn't seem surprising, since I would think there are a lot more Autos
on the road. I would be interesting in seeing accident fault rates of autos
vs. big rigs that takes into account the relative number of each, and how
much time they spend on the road. Though I suspect that the figure would
support the general gist of what your saying, since truckers drive
professionally as a job, its safe to say they are better at driving then you
average commute to work fella in a fancy SUV.
"Why is the government "cracking down"....viewing with alarm....and passing
new (very onerous) regulations on BIG TRUCKS?..."
I think you answered your own question, BIG TRUCKS. BIG TOBACCO. BIG OIL.
BIG FAST FOOD. Anything big is evil in the US, and the populace abandons
all notions of reason and logic if 'BIG' preceeds something.
"your typical big truck driver travels further in one month (12,000 miles)
than the typical four wheeler does in a year...so far I've logged over a
million miles...more than most 4-wheelers do in their whole lives..4 million
is not uncommon for a big truck driver's career....some as many as 5million.
The number of accidents per mile driven of big trucks is the lowest of
anything on the road.."
Ah, guess that's what I was saying all along. Interesting statistics
though.
"of fatal accidents by FAR the lowest..."
This is the reason why I have fancied myself buying a big rig cab and using
it as my commuting vehicle (should I ever be able to afford a 80-90k
vehicle). My favorite so far is the Volvo VN.
http://www.volvotrucks.us.com/pages/0,2073,704,00.html?market=NA&MID=660
As a trucker, what kind of mileage do these things get when not hauling a
trailer? The deplorably bad movie 'black dog' is an excellent excursion
into the safety of big trucks.
Michael Dickey
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