Car vs. Big Rig: Usually Loser’s Fault

Car drivers are most often to blame for fatal accidents with big-rig trucks and are most likely to die in those crashes, according to a national study to be released today. The study of more than 10,000 fatal accidents by the Automobile Assn. of America’s Foundation for Traffic Safety determined that car drivers cause most collisions with big rigs by speeding, failing to yield or cutting in the path of the trucks.

Of those killed in the car-versus-truck accidents, 98% are car drivers or their passengers, the study concluded.

The study echoed the findings of previous research that blamed the drivers of passenger vehicles for most collisions with big rigs. But for the first time, the AAA study sought to determine the most common driving behavior that results in such accidents.

The study did not calculate how often car drivers were at fault nationally. But the Automobile Club of Southern California estimated that, among those accidents in which police determined who was to blame, car drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians were blamed for 69% of their accidents with big rigs in California last year.

Fatalities resulting from accidents involving big rigs dropped in California to 396 last year, from 412 in 2000, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The findings of the national study are significant for Southern California motorists who find themselves increasingly sharing congested roads with big rigs. Due to a surge in overseas cargo shipments, big rig traffic from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has increased steadily and is expected to more than triple by 2020, from 30,000 trips a day to 100,000.

“Car drivers need to realize that greater precautions must be taken when driving near trucks,” said Steven Bloch, senior researcher for AAA.

Such accidents are most often blamed on car drivers who fail to stay in their lanes, refuse to yield right of way to big rigs, drive too fast for conditions or otherwise break traffic laws, according to the AAA study.

The study says car drivers are usually responsible for such accidents because they don’t adjust their driving habits around big rigs.

“One reason why some car drivers perform unsafe maneuvers near large trucks may be that they simply don’t know the risks associated with driving near trucks,” the study concluded.

Because of their size, weight and momentum, big rigs need more room to maneuver and stop than passenger cars.

Margaret Peterson, who has been driving an 18-wheeler for nearly 25 years, said she routinely sees car drivers change lanes without signaling, or cut in front of her truck and then slam on the brakes.

“They don’t realize that it takes more than a length of a football field to stop when we are traveling at 55 mph,” she said.

Peterson said she saw such risky maneuvers as recently as Friday morning, when she drove from Victorville to Long Beach. “If you had been with me today, you would have seen all of those [driving habits],” she said.

Warren Hoemann, vice president of the California Trucking Assn., said the study also emphasizes a need to educate drivers about the dangers of maneuvering near trucks.

The study suggests that authorities make those risks clear by letting drivers spend time in the cab of a big rig or a simulator.

The Federal Highway Administration has already launched the No-Zone campaign to warn car drivers not to drive in dangerous areas, such as blind spots where truck drivers cannot see passenger vehicles.

Hoemann added: “When an accident does happen, everybody has a problem, so who is at fault is not as important as avoiding these accidents.”