UCI Risk Study to Focus on Pickup Truck Riders

UC Irvine won a $400,000 grant Friday to study the risks of riding in cargo areas of pickup trucks and to determine if new laws are needed to try to curb the rising number of related injuries and fatalities.

The two-year nationwide study is being funded by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The research is being headed by Phyllis Agran, director of UCI’s Pediatric Injury Prevention Research Group.

“Pickup trucks continue to gain in popularity throughout America,” Agran said, “yet the safety of occupants has not been adequately addressed.”

From 1987 to 1992, pickup truck registrations climbed 22% from 27.7 million to nearly 33.7 million. Last year, pickups were the best-selling vehicles nationwide with sales of more than 1.2 million vehicles.

But in 1994, of all types of passenger vehicles, pickup trucks had the highest occupant death rate in single-vehicle accidents, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Agran’s research group already has conducted related studies and statewide campaigns to discourage riding in cargo areas of pickups.

She said she will use national mortality data to analyze the risks associated with traveling in enclosed and open cargo areas. She also will review public policies relating to travel in such areas. Laws vary from state to state.

The California legislature passed a law in 1994 that outlaws passenger travel in unenclosed cargo areas unless the rider is restrained. Unrestrained travel is allowed in enclosed cargo areas, such as camper shells, but the California Highway Patrol is overriding that provision by ticketing unbelted passengers under the mandatory seat belt law.

Agran said the study’s finding will provide data that can be presented to lawmakers, health care organizations and advocacy groups to help them evaluate the need for new vehicle laws.