Show sees decline in fatal truck accidents national safety council reports fewer fatalities cleveland ohio Foll following omIng a report by the national safety council that fatal accidents involving passenger cars have increased 38 per cent while truck accidents resulting in deaths have lime decreased 8 per cent in the past six years R W cass research expert predicts a further decline in truck ac during the nest next few years with the development of increased tural and mechanical safeguards an investigation of traffic accidents recently completed by mr cass reveals than 85 per cent of the accidents were ay iy directly traceable to human failure while the remaining 15 per cent were divided between machine failure and road defects of the 85 per cent traceable to hu man failure states mr cass a con sid side erable rabIe percentage may be traced to tiredness physical d or sleepiness at the wheel this figure will undoubtedly show a decline over the period of the next few years for two reasons the first Is through anti and sleep regulation which already has been passed in approximately three quarters of the states limiting the number of hours which a truck driver may consecutively operate the sec see ond Is by increased attention of the truck manufacturer to the comfort of the driver at the present time trucks are being placed on the market which have the comfort and ease of operation of passenger cars A one ton chassis of new design for example not only pro vides more payload space on a shorter wheel base but may be maneuvered in traffic with the ease and flexibility of a small roadster improvement of highways under the new public works program Is also ex pecked to decrease trucking accidents according to mr cass |