National

Truck Accident Statistics

In 2024, 5,442 people died in crashes involving a large truck. That is nearly 15 deaths every single day. The number counts everyone in the crash: people in the truck, people in other vehicles, and people on foot. It is not just the people driving the trucks. Texas recorded the most of these deaths, 723. But it isn't the most dangerous state for its size. That title belongs to New Mexico. Its rate: 4.13 deaths per 100,000 residents.

"Large truck" here follows the federal definition. It covers a single-unit straight truck, a truck-tractor, a medium- or heavy-duty pickup, or a motorhome. Each is rated above 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight. It doesn't include ordinary pickups or vans. The death count doesn't single out the people in the truck. Most people killed in these crashes are riding in the other vehicle or walking. That is worth keeping straight. "Truck accident deaths" gets misread as a count of truck drivers killed. It is closer to the opposite. This total can also overlap with the pedestrian and motorcyclist pillars on injured.org. A pedestrian or motorcyclist killed in a crash with a large truck counts on both pages, not split between them.

How many people die in truck accidents each year?

In 2024, 5,442 people died in U.S. crashes involving a large truck. That is about 14.9 deaths a day. Over the five years from 2020 through 2024, the toll added up to 28,029 deaths. That is an average of about 5,606 a year. So 2024's total came in slightly below the five-year average. These counts include everyone in the crash, not just the people in the truck. The larger share are people in other vehicles or on foot.

Which state has the deadliest truck accident rate?

New Mexico, not Texas. New Mexico had the country's highest rate of large-truck crash deaths in 2024. Its rate: 4.13 for every 100,000 residents. Texas recorded far more raw deaths, 723, the most of any state. But its rate of 2.31 ranks 14th in the nation. That says Texas's toll tracks its size and traffic, not unusually dangerous roads. The flip matters. A headline can name the state with the most deaths. That doesn't make it the most dangerous state for any one driver.

How injured.org counts a large-truck-crash death

A death counts here if a large truck, as defined above, was one of the vehicles in the crash. We build the count by matching each truck crash to the deaths in that same crash. The match uses the crash's state, case number, and year together. Why all three? Case numbers get reused from year to year in the records. A match on state and case number alone could combine two unrelated crashes from different years. That would inflate or distort the count. injured.org's totals use the more careful three-part match.

injured.org tracks a simple ladder of protection across three vehicle pillars. Large trucks sit at the far end of it. Pedestrians carry no protective shell at all. Motorcyclists have some gear but no frame around them. A large truck flips that pattern. It is usually the largest object in the crash, not the smallest. That is the mechanical reason its death toll falls so heavily on people in other vehicles or on foot, not the people in the truck.