Wisconsin Truck Accident Deaths

In an attempt to reduce the number and severity of truck accidents on rural roads, Wisconsin transportation officials have launched for 2009 a federally funded Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.

Using grant money from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the state will spend $4.64 million to beef up law enforcement, including inspection of large trucks and a 20 percent increase in the number of mobile roadside inspections of large trucks on back roads and bypass routes.

The program stems from results of a 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study that found driver behavior is ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash than other factors such as weather, road conditions and vehicle performance. In Wisconsin, more than 50 percent of large truck crash deaths occur on rural roads rather than urban roads.

A report on the Wisconsin safety program said: “Wisconsin must continue to increase its focus on the behaviors of both commercial motor vehicles and non commercial drivers to reduce the incidence of serious crashes.”

The state wants to improve on a baseline of crash data from 2002-2006 that showed an average of 464 fatalities and serious injuries resulting from large truck crashes. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, the number was 433.

That goal of the program is to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries from truck crashes to 353 by 2011.

The program will focus on counties with a higher than average number of truck crashes: Brown, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Dun, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Marathon, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Racine, Rock, Sauk, St. Croix, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha and Winnebago.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a truck and car crash, call a truck accident lawyer at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, a premier personal injury law firm with a proven record of success in securing compensation for families and victims of serious accidents. Contact us by calling 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free case consultation form.