The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has released data on shoulder belt usage that indicates that among cargo types, the highest usage rates were observed among the drivers of single tankers and hazmat tractor-trailer combinations.
The study compared data from 2002 to 2005.
FMCSA said most crashes that are fatal to truck drivers involve running off the road and rolling over or hitting a large stationary object such as a tree, bridge abutment, or culvert. Many of the drivers killed in these types of crashes died because they failed to wear their shoulder belts and were ejected from the vehicle.
About 54 percent of the truck drivers were using their shoulder belts in 2005, compared with 48 percent in 2002.
By 2008, FMCSA aims to increase shoulder belt use among truck drivers and to reduce the total number of truck-related fatalities to 1.65 per 100 million miles traveled.