BTS: The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) produces statistics and contextual information in areas such as commercial aviation, multimodal freight activity, and transportation economics. It is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation and is one of 13 principal statistical agencies in the Federal government, which means its principal mission is statistical work. BTS collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes data to support public and private decision making. The data used and published by BTS adheres to strict confidentiality statutes to ensure that personally identifiable data is not released to unauthorized persons or organizations.

CIPSEA: The Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) is a U.S. Federal law that ensures the confidentiality of information collected by Federal statistical agencies, promotes efficient data sharing while protecting the privacy of respondents, and establishes uniform confidentiality protections for information collected.

Crash reconstruction: A crash reconstruction must include all the components of a crash investigation, plus additional data collection and analysis that “utilizes principles of physics and empirical data to analyze the physical, electronic, video, audio, and testimonial evidence from a crash to determine how and why the crash occurred” (SAE International). Crash reconstructions are typically completed by specially trained law enforcement officers or contracted third parties.

Fatal crash: To be considered a fatal crash, the crash must result in at least one fatality, either at the time of the crash or within 30 days as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Heavy-duty truck: Heavy-duty trucks, or Class 7/8 trucks, have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 26,001 pounds or more. Examples of heavy-duty trucks include truck-tractor semi-trailers, furniture trucks, garbage trucks, and cement trucks.

MCSAP: The Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) formula grant provides financial assistance to State and local law enforcement agencies to increase CMV-related enforcement and safety activities nationwide. These MCSAP lead agencies work together with FMCSA to reduce the number and severity of crashes and hazardous materials incidents involving CMVs.

Medium-duty truck: Medium-duty trucks, or Class 3–6 trucks, have a GVWR of 10,001-26,000 pounds. Examples of medium-duty trucks include bucket trucks, box trucks, city delivery vans, and full-size pickup trucks.

Non-motorist: A non-motorist is any person who is not an occupant of a motor vehicle. This includes pedestrians, bicyclists, other cyclists, and occupants of non-motor vehicle transport devices. This definition comes from the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) Guidelines (Sixth Edition). 

Police crash report: A police crash report (PCR) is a form for collecting data at the scene of a motor vehicle traffic crash. PCRs are typically completed by local/county/State law enforcement personnel and undergo quality control before being uploaded to a central crash report database.

Post-crash inspection: A post-crash inspection is performed by a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) inspector certified to conduct commercial vehicle inspections through the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). Post-crash inspections are recorded on driver/vehicle examination reports and document violations and defects discovered at the time of the inspection. These inspections assist in identifying where regulatory non-compliance by a driver may have contributed to crash causation and identify whether vehicle defects existed prior to or resulted from a crash.

Post-crash investigation: A post-crash investigation is a more thorough investigation of the crash event report with more crash details than a PCR. Typically completed by a law enforcement officer, a post-crash investigation report involves the collection of additional data elements beyond what is collected as part of a standard PCR but is not as expansive as a crash reconstruction.

Qualifying crash: For the Heavy-Duty Truck Study, qualifying crashes are those that occur in a defined sampling location during the data collection period, that involve at least one Class 7 or 8 truck, and that result in a fatality within 30 days as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. These crashes will be included in the study sample.

Statistical purposes: Statistical purposes use information to describe or analyze groups or subgroups of the economy, society, or environment without identifying the individuals or organizations that reported the information. In contrast, non-statistical purposes would include administrative, regulatory, or law enforcement use of information that could adversely affect the rights, privileges, or benefits of the individuals or organizations that reported the information. Data collected under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) can be used for statistical purposes only.