No national database exists that contains information describing the causes or contributing factors for large truck crashes. Both the General Accounting Office and the Department of Transportation's Inspector General indicated in separate reports in 1999 that lack of crash causation data hampered the government's ability to effectively address truck safety issues.

AAA testified before Congress in 1999 on the need for better data on car/truck crashes as an important step in designing effective solutions to improve traffic safety.

AAA called for a study to identify the causes of truck crashes, emphasizing the need to invest in building data systems to gather and analyze the factors that contribute to truck crashes and the injuries they produce. Authorization for such a study was included in the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act passed in 1999, and AAA worked with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to provide initial funding for the study, which is now under way.