UMTRI survey data on large trucks involved in fatal ac- cidents and on the travel of large trucks provide estimates of fatal accident involvement rates by driver age. The analysis is focused on the implications of lowering the minimum age for drivers of commercial trucks operating in- terstate from 21 to 19 years. Fatal accident involvement rates for drivers of large trucks are found to increase with decreasing driver age. The younger drivers are over- involved until about age 27. Drivers under the age of 21 are over- involved by a factor of 6 in comparison to the overall rate for all drivers.
Abstract