A REVIEW OF ACCIDENT RESEARCH INVOLVING TRUCK SIZE AND WEIGHT

This article reviews 10 key accident studies relating to increased truck size and weight in order to resolve conflicting study results and put them into proper perspective. It begins with a review of accident research terminology, defining such terms as motor vehicle accident, accident involvement, exposure, accident rate, accident involvement rate, and accident severity. Next the 10 key accident studies are reviewed. In general, the trucks involved were large and included single-unit trucks with at least six tires and gross weights of more than 10,000 lb empty and 20,000 lb loaded and all combination trucks (singles, doubles and triples). In conclusion it is stated that often, apparently conflicting results actually involve different issues or different populations of trucks, and the quality of the data or analysis is also sometimes questionable.