The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of earthquakes on road vehicle-bridge coupling vibration systems. A two-axle highway freight vehicle is treated as a 13 degree-of-freedom system composed of several rigid bodies, which are connected by a series of springs and dampers. The framework of the earthquake-vehicle-bridge dynamic analysis system is then established using an earthquake as the external excitation. The equivalent lateral contact force serves as the judgment criteria for sideslip accidents according to reliability theory. The entire process of the vehicle crossing the bridge is considered for a very high pier continuous rigid frame bridge. The response characteristics of the vehicle and the bridge are discussed in terms of various parameters such as earthquake ground motion, PGA value of the earthquake, incident angle, pier height, vehicle speed and mass. It is found that seismic excitation is the most influential factor in the responses of the vehicle-bridge system and that the safety of vehicles crossing the bridge is seriously impacted by the dual excitations of earthquake and bridge vibration. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of earthquakes on road vehicle-bridge coupling vibration systems. A two-axle highway freight vehicle is treated as a 13 degree-of-freedom system composed of several rigid bodies, which are connected by a series of springs and dampers. The framework of the earthquake-vehicle-bridge dynamic analysis system is then established using an earthquake as the external excitation. The equivalent lateral contact force serves as the judgment criteria for sideslip accidents according to reliability theory. The entire process of the vehicle crossing the bridge is considered for a very high pier continuous rigid frame bridge. The response characteristics of the vehicle and the bridge are discussed in terms of various parameters such as earthquake ground motion, PGA value of the earthquake, incident angle, pier height, vehicle speed and mass. It is found that seismic excitation is the most influential factor in the responses of the vehicle-brid ge system and that the safety of vehicles crossing the bridge is seriously impacted by the dual excitations of earthquake and bridge vibration.