Truck-Involved Traffic Fatalities Declined 12 Percent in 2008

ARLINGTON, Va., July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The number of truck-involved
traffic fatalities declined 12 percent in 2008, dropping from 4,822 in 2007 to
4,229, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last week.

"This achievement is great for all highway users," said Bill Graves, President
and CEO of the American Trucking Associations (ATA). "We must build upon this
and look toward long-term improvements. The trucking industry remains
committed to safety and ATA will continue to advance its aggressive safety
agenda in an effort to further this outstanding trend."

In addition to a 12 percent reduction in crash fatalities involving large
trucks, the number of truck occupant deaths decreased 16 percent in 2008, from
805 in 2007 to 677. The overall number of people killed in motor vehicle
crashes in the United States decreased 9.7 percent from 41,259 in 2007 to
37,261 in 2008, the lowest level since 1961.

Programs dedicated to increasing the use of safety belts, coupled with new
hours-of-service regulations, which took effect in 2005, have greatly improved
highway safety. The truck-involved fatality rate is now at its lowest since
the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping those statistics in 1975.

ATA's 18-point safety agenda will further reduce the number of highway-related
fatalities and injuries for all drivers on the nation's highways. ATA's
policies include promoting greater safety belt use by commercial drivers;
re-instituting a national maximum speed limit; improved truck crashworthiness
standards; speed governing of all trucks; tax incentives for safety
technologies; and a decade-long initiative to create a national clearinghouse
for drug and alcohol test results.

Click here to view ATA's complete highway safety agenda.

NHTSA's 2008 traffic safety data can be found at:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811172.pdf.

The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association
for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups,
industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking
associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of
motor carrier in the United States.

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

Clayton Boyce of American Trucking Associations, +1-703-838-7902,
+1-703-408-3716