FACTS
- Millions of workers use motor vehicles every day, which may be why motor vehicles are the leading cause of work-related deaths. Semi-trucks had the most fatalities at 28% over automobiles at 24% and pickup trucks at 12%.
- Fatigue is a major cause of highway injuries
- The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported that fatalities occurring with company vehicles were caused by fatigue, alcohol, drugs, and other medical issues.
- Implementing safe driver programs at work keeps employees safe.
- The number of large trucks registered and large-truck miles driven are increasing, as are overall large-truck crash rates based on miles driven.
- Crash deaths of occupants of large trucks (above 10,000 pounds) are increasing.
STATS
- Traffic crashes are the number one cause of on the job deaths in America. 2 of every 5 people killed at work die in a workplace vehicle accident. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 1,766 deaths a year result from occupational transportation incidents. That number is more than 38% of the 4,547 annual number of fatalities from occupational injuries.
- Every 12 minutes someone dies in a motor vehicle crash, every 10 seconds an injury occurs and every 5 seconds a crash occurs. Many of accidents happen during work.
- Deaths have decreased for the third consecutive year, 39,107 people died in motor-vehicle crashes in 2019. However, motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for people for every single year of life from age 4 to 12 and from 14 to 22 and a leading killer in all age groups.
- In 2019, 277 million vehicles were registered and 39,107 people died on the road.
- In 2019, the number of deaths decreased 0.8% and the mileage death rate of 1.20 per 100 million vehicle miles was down 1.6% from the 2018 rate of 1.22.
- Medically consulted injuries in motor-vehicle incidents totaled 4.5 million in 2019, and total motor-vehicle injury costs were estimated at $463.0 billion. Costs include wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses, motor-vehicle property damage, and employer costs.
- Miles traveled increased 0.7%, the number of registered vehicles went up 1.5%, and the population grew 0.3%. As a result, the mileage death rate decreased 1.6%, the vehicle death rate decreased 0.7%, and the population death rate was down 0.8% from 2018 to 2019.