The Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS) provides data on the physical and operational characteristics of the Nation’s truck population. This survey is conducted every5 years as part of the economic census. Title 13 of the United States Code (Sections 131, 191, and 224) directs the Census Bureau to take the economic census every 5years, covering years ending in 2 and 7.

The 1997 VIUS is a probability sample of private and commercial trucks registered (or licensed) in the United States as of July 1, 1997. This survey excludes vehicles owned by Federal, state, or local governments; ambulances; buses; motor homes; farm tractors; unpowered trailer units; and trucks reported to have been sold, junked, or wrecked prior to July 1, 1996. A sample of about 131,000 trucks was surveyed to measure the characteristics of nearly 75 million trucks registered in the United States.