No, they are not. In fact, just the opposite is true. The statistics are in for 2014 and fatalities from accidents involving trucks were actually down 5 percent from the previous year according to Overdrive Magazine. Therefore, you are less likely to be involved in a fatal crash with a truck on a New Jersey highway then in previous years.
This due, in part, to new safety technologies that have been adapted by many trucking companies. Features such as emergency brakes, stability control and forward collision warnings keep truck drivers alert to possible factors that could cause a fatal accident. Even if you were to be involved in an accident with a truck, these types of technologies most likely would make the crash less deadly than if they were not being employed.
Interestingly, however, the odds of you being injured in a truck-related accident are increasing. The number of injuries from truck crashes for 2014 were a startling 21 percent higher than in 2013. This is thanks, some argue, to new hours of service regulations that went into effect for truck drivers beginning in 2013.
In an effort to cut down on drivers being tired behind the wheel, the rules require them to take a 34-hour period off between work weeks. As a result, more trucks end up sharing the road with you during daytime hours. Since highways are more congested during the day and traffic typically moves slower, many accidents that would be fatal if they occurred during the night instead resulted only in injuries.
