Commercial vehicle crashes rise 40%

Traffic has also increased, but at a much lower rate.
TOLEDO (AP) -- Accidents involving commercial vehicles increased 40 percent in the year since the speed limit for big trucks was raised from 55 mph to 65 mph.
Truck accidents grew at a disproportionately higher number than the 17 percent increase in trucks and private buses on the 241-mile toll road, according to a report by the State Highway Patrol.
"We are very concerned with safety consequences on the Ohio Turnpike which appear to be related to the higher speed limits for trucks," the report said.
Turnpike officials raised the truck speed limit in September 2004 and later decreased tolls for big rigs to draw truck traffic away from secondary roads and back onto the turnpike.
The Ohio Transportation Department said this week that the number of trucks driven on those rural routes was down 22 percent between August 2004 and August 2005.
But at the same time, accidents on the turnpike increased.
The number of crashes for commercial vehicles between September 2004 and September 2005 was 807, compared with a yearly average of 577.
Noncommercial crashes were up by 18 percent.
Contributing factors
Gary Suhadolnik, the turnpike's executive director, said Wednesday he had not yet read the report. But Suhadolnik said the increase in commercial vehicle crashes could be blamed, in part, on a particularly severe winter.
The patrol's report found that weather was a factor, but not always. Commercial crashes on dry road conditions increased by 25 percent.
Dry-pavement crashes in which a commercial truck driver was faulted for speeding or tailgating increased by a combined 123 percent.
Speeding accidents increased from an average of 4 per year to 11, and tailgating went from 27 to 58, the report said.
The average speed of a commercial vehicle on the turnpike was 66 mph -- compared with 62 mph before the higher truck speed limit, the report said.
Car speeds are also up, even though their speed limit didn't change.
"The data suggest that as truck speeds generally increase, so do passenger-car speeds," said Lt. Rick Zwayer, a spokesman for the highway patrol. "For whatever reason, most passenger vehicles tend to pass commercial vehicles and do not want to stay close to commercial vehicles."