In 2000, rollover crashes killed 9,873 occupants of passenger cars and light trucks, almost one-third of the total deaths of occupants of these types of vehicles. A rollover crash is far more likely to result in fatalities than are non-rollover crashes. In 2000, only 3 percent of all passenger vehicles involved in crashes were rollovers, but rollovers accounted for 20 percent of passengervehicles involved in fatal crashes.
Controlling for vehicle type shows that within the passenger vehicle category, light trucks are more likely than passenger cars to be involved in rollover crashes and when rollovers occur, the proportions of fatal and injury only type crashes that involve rollovers are also higher among light trucks than passenger cars.…