1992 CENSUS OF TRANSPORTATION 1992 TRUCK INVENTORY AND USE SURVEY =>SUMMARY Approximately 59.2 million private and commercial trucks were registered in the United States during 1992. This is an increase of 14.6 million trucks (32.8 percent) since the 1987 survey. Trucks in 1992 were driven an estimated 786.3 billion truck miles and averaged 13.3 thousand annual miles (table 2a). California and Texas were the leading States in terms of registered trucks, having 12.1 and 7.4 percent of the national total (table A). =>MAJOR USE The increased use of light trucks and vans for personal transportation continues to be the dominant trend in the data. Over two-thirds (68 percent) of all trucks were used mainly for "personal transportation," defined as being used in place of an automobile to go from home to work, for car pool, pleasure driving, outdoor recreation, camping, etc. This compares to 66 percent in 1987, 57 percent in 1982, and 54 percent in 1977. Slightly less than 40.4 million trucks were used mainly for this purpose and were driven about 464.4 billion miles. Trucks used for construction and agriculture ranked second and third, with 5.0 and 3.6 million trucks respectively, while services ranked fourth with 3.1 million trucks. =>PICKUPS, MINIVANS, PANELS, UTILITIES, AND STATION WAGONS In 1992, 91 percent of all private and commercial trucks in the Nation were pickups, minivans, panels, utilities, and station wagons. They accounted for 99 percent of the trucks used for personal transportation and represented a substantial number of the trucks used in services (87 percent), not in use (82 percent), construction (80 percent), retail trade (78 percent), and agriculture (75 percent). In 1992, 64 percent of all light trucks averaged over 15 miles per gallon, compared to 49 percent in 1987. These trucks operated most of the time within the State in which they were based and had an average vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less. The pickup truck is still the most popular type of truck in the Nation, but use of minivans continues to grow. The total number of pickups registered increased from 27.7 million in 1987 to 33.7 million in 1992, accounting for over 56 percent of all trucks. Minivans increased 258 percent since the 1987 survey. =>VEHICLE ACQUISITION In 1992, 46 percent of all trucks were purchased "new ",an increase of 5.9 million trucks over the past 5 years. Slightly over one-half (51 percent) of all trucks were purchased "used", an increase of 8.1 million since 1987. The "used" truck segment represented 58 percent of the vehicles operated in agriculture, 55 percent of those operated in forestry and lumbering, 54 percent of those operated for personal transportation, and 48 percent of those operated in construction. =>INTENSITY OF USE As implied by annual miles per vehicle for the "major use" categories, use was greatest for "for-hire" trucks (see table 2a), which averaged 58.3 thousand miles per year, compared with 13.3 thousand miles for all trucks. The light size trucks averaged 12.3 thousand miles per year and the medium size trucks averaged 11.1 thousand miles per year, a 15 percent increase for light size trucks from 1987 and a 6 percent increase for medium size trucks from 1987. The light-heavy size trucks averaged 11.1 thousand miles per year, a 12 percent increase from 1987. The heavy-heavy size trucks averaged 41.1 thousand miles per year. This was a 5 percent increase since 1987. Between 1987 and 1992, the total miles traveled increased by 49 percent; however, the average annual miles per trucks has remained relatively stable over the years: 11.9 thousand in 1977, 11.2 thousand in 1982, 11.9 thousand in 1987, and 13.3 thousand in 1992. =>LARGE TRUCKS Basic platform and basic enclosed van were the most popular types of larger trucks. The truck miles characteristics of large trucks differ substantially from those of pickups, panels, utilities, and station wagons. Different data distributions can be observed when analyzing the large truck segment alone (see table 2a). Five million large trucks traveled 116.6 billion miles annually, averaging 22.8 thousand miles per truck; "for-hire" large trucks, only 15 percent of the total number of large trucks, contributed 42 percent of the truck miles. =>TRAILER SIZE Of the trucks pulling a trailer, the truck and trailer configuration most often operated was truck-tractor with single trailer; 54 percent of all trucks pulling a trailer were of this configuration. Three percent of all trucks were truck-tractors with double trailers. Forty-six percent of single trailers pulled by a truck-tractor were 45-48 feet long. =>NUMBER OF TRUCKS Truck use has increased significantly in the last 5 years. The number of States in which 1,000,000 or more trucks were registered increased from 15 in 1987 to 25 in 1992. Accordingly, the number of States in which less than 200,000 trucks were registered decreased from 6 in 1987 to 4 in 1992.