Reports issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveal that the number of fatal trucking accidents increased in 2012 from 3,781 to 3,921; a 3.7 percent increase from 2011.  Due to the sheer mass of these vehicles, occupants of the smaller vehicles with which they collide tend to fair worse and suffer the gravamen of the injuries and fatalities.  However, the NHTSA data revealed a relatively sharp increase in the number of fatalities for occupants of large trucks as well.  Specifically, the 2012 data showed 697 such fatalities, an increase of 8.9 percent as compared to 2011 data.