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Truck Safety: The Safety of Longer Combination Vehicles Is Unknown

RCED-92-66 Published: Mar 11, 1992. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 1992.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the safety of longer combination vehicles (LCV), focusing on the: (1) current extent of LCV use; (2) results of LCV safety studies; and (3) major operational characteristics that affect LCV safety.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To improve transportation data and to help determine LCV safety, the Secretary of Transportation should improve truck accident and travel data, especially as they relate to the reporting of nonfatal accidents, the estimates of truck travel, and the identification of truck configurations.
Closed – Implemented
The Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) is providing grants under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to states to adopt the uniform accident reporting form recommended by the National Governors' Association and data elements, which require reporting data on truck configurations. As of August 1994, 23 states had adopted the form and data elements. FHwA plans to continue its efforts to get the remaining states to adopt the uniform reporting practices. FHwA estimates it will take at least 2 years for this effort.

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Freight transportationHighway safetyReporting requirementsShipping industryState lawTraffic accidentsTransportation researchTransportation safetyTrucking operationsTruck driversCommercial motor vehicle operators