2009 safest year for trucking industry

ARLINGTON, VA -- The rate of truck-involved fatalities on U.S. highways fell to 1.17 per 100 million miles in 2009 – making it the trucking industry's safest year since the federal government began keeping track in 1975.

The rate fell 14.1% from the revised fatality rate of 1.37 in 2008, according to an analysis of data released by the Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."

In 2009, NHTSA recorded 3,380 fatalities in 2,987 crashes, both down from the 4,245 fatalities and 3,754 crashes reported the previous year. FHWA reported that in 2009 trucks traveled more than 288 billion miles – down from 310.7 billion the previous year, though the agency significantly increased its historical truck mileage figures prior to publishing their 2009

--ATA press release via PRNewswire-USNewswire