According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), heavy trucks, such as tractor trailers, were responsible for 1 in every 9 traffic deaths in 2008.  Further, according to data obtained from the American Trucking Association (“ATA”), the self described “leading advocate for the trucking industry”; truck accidents have a higher fatality rate than do other car accidents.  More specifically, the ATA’s 2009 data demonstrated that approximately 1% of heavy truck accidents in the United States resulted in death, whereas only .05% of car accidents from the same period proved to be fatal.  Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those killed in heavy truck accidents were not in the truck at the time of the crash.  The same ATA data from 2009 reveal that of the 3,380 deaths caused by large truck crashes, approximately 76% were inside the other vehicle(s) involved in the collision.