In 2024, 5,218 large trucks were involved in a fatal crash, a 3% decrease from 2023 but a 30% increase in the last 10 years. The involvement rate per 100 million large-truck miles traveled is also down 3% from 2023, but up 9% in the last 10 years. Large trucks are defined as any medium or heavy truck, not including buses and motor homes, with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds. Both commercial and non-commercial vehicles are included.
Large trucks accounted for:
- 9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes
- 10% of total vehicle miles traveled
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Also in 2024, 120,724 large trucks were involved in crashes resulting in an injury, a 5.4% increase from 2023. Since 2016, the number of trucks involved in injury crashes has increased 18%. The involvement rate per 100 million large truck miles driven increased 5.7% in 2024 to 37 per 100 million large truck miles traveled. Starting with the 2016 data year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began using a new Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) to estimate the number of nonfatal crashes. CRSS uses a different sampling design than previous estimates and is not directly comparable to earlier data years.
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*Injury estimates prior to 2016 are not comparable to current counts.
A total of 5,340 people died in large-truck crashes in 2024. The number of deaths decreased 2.5% from 2023 but is up 30% in the last 10 years. The majority of deaths in large-truck crashes are occupants of other vehicles (70%), followed by truck occupants (17%), and non-occupants, primarily pedestrians and bicyclists (13%).
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The number of injuries in large-truck crashes increased 5% in 2024, to 161,201. As with deaths in large-truck crashes, most of the injuries occurred to occupants of other vehicles (72%), followed by truck occupants (26%) and non-occupants (2%).
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*Injury estimates prior to 2016 are not comparable to current counts.
The infographic summarizes several key facts related to fatal crashes involving large trucks in 2024. More than half of fatal large-truck crashes occurred on rural roads and about a quarter on interstates. Sixty-two percent of the crashes happened during daylight hours, and 5% happened in construction zones. The peak month for fatal truck crashes was October, while March had the fewest crashes.
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Sources:
National Safety Council (NSC) analysis of NHTSA’s CRSS and Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data files.