One hundred and sixty one occupational injury deaths to Wisconsin residents during 1976 were identified from death certificates and from Worker's Compensation records. Thirty-seven percent of the total (59 deaths) were related to highway motor vehicles. Twenty percent (33 deaths) were associated with trucks. Fourteen percent (23 deaths) were truck drivers. The annual per capita death rate for truck drivers was 65/100,000, about 9 times the rate for all other Wisconsin workers.

Of the deaths associated with motor vehicles, 39% could not be identified from information coded from the death certificate and 36% were not reported to Worker's Compensation. The resulting estimates of truck driver death rates and of the proportion of all occupational deaths associated with motor vehicles are therefore conservative.

The failure of federal agencies adequately to address the problem of occupational safety for large groups of workers who drive on the job is of particular concern in view of the size of the problem.