A state-by-state breakdown of crashes involving large trucks

Canva In 2020, there were 54,272 fatal crashes reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many of these crashes involved passenger vehicles–sedans, SUVs, or relatively small trucks; however, thousands of fatal crashes involved another type of vehicle: large trucks. In fact, large trucks–commercial and non-commercial trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds–were involved in almost 5,000 fatal crashes, or just under 9% of total fatal crashes, in 2020. Although the large truck category begins at 10,000 pounds, the majority of trucks involved in these crashes weighed more than 26,000 pounds. And while that number may seem like a lot, it actually represents a 1% decline from the prior year. One potential reason for the decrease in fatal crashes involving large trucks is the pandemic, which caused a shift in the supply chain and consumer demand that may have put fewer large commercial trucks on the road. But do certain states have more fatal large truck crashes than others? Walkup, Melodia, Kelly, & Schoenberger collected data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System to understand how many accidents in each state involved large trucks. Each state was ranked based on the number of accidents involving large trucks per 100,000 residents, using data from the FARS April 2020 Traffic Safety Facts report. Population size was drawn from U.S. Census state population totals. Click through for a look at how many crashes involving large trucks happened in each state in 2020. #51. District of Columbia JRJfin // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 2 (0.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 50 (4.0% involving a large truck) #50. Massachusetts Baloncici // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 28 (0.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 488 (5.7% involving a large truck) #49. Hawaii cleanfotos // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 6 (0.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 114 (5.3% involving a large truck) #48. New York JoanneStrell // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 116 (0.6 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1437 (8.1% involving a large truck) #47. New Jersey Neil Pollock // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 54 (0.6 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 818 (6.6% involving a large truck) #46. Vermont Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 4 (0.6 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 80 (5.0% involving a large truck) #45. Rhode Island IgorGolovniov // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 7 (0.6 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 93 (7.5% involving a large truck) #44. Connecticut Kryuchka Yaroslav // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 25 (0.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 415 (6.0% involving a large truck) #43. Michigan Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 74 (0.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1567 (4.7% involving a large truck) #42. Washington Vitpho // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 60 (0.8 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 794 (7.6% involving a large truck) #41. New Hampshire Tynka // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 11 (0.8 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 148 (7.4% involving a large truck) #40. Delaware Mikbiz // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 9 (0.9 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 162 (5.6% involving a large truck) #39. Maryland Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 57 (0.9 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 818 (7.0% involving a large truck) #38. California mikeledray // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 384 (1.0 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 5268 (7.3% involving a large truck) #37. Nevada Lane V. Erickson // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 32 (1.0 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 451 (7.1% involving a large truck) #36. Minnesota Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 59 (1.0 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 548 (10.8% involving a large truck) #35. Wisconsin Vitpho // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 63 (1.1 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 825 (7.6% involving a large truck) #34. Pennsylvania Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle // Getty Images – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 147 (1.1 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1597 (9.2% involving a large truck) #33. Utah Dmitry Kalinovsky // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 38 (1.2 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 397 (9.6% involving a large truck) #32. Ohio FIORENTINI MASSIMO // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 145 (1.2 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1766 (8.2% involving a large truck) #31. Colorado Steve Nehf // Getty Images – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 74 (1.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 885 (8.4% involving a large truck) #30. Virginia Steve Jolicoeur // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 113 (1.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1211 (9.3% involving a large truck) #29. Illinois Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 170 (1.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1673 (10.2% involving a large truck) #28. Alaska Jan Miko // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 10 (1.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 80 (12.5% involving a large truck) #27. Maine Portland Press Herald // Getty Images – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 20 (1.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 216 (9.3% involving a large truck) #26. North Carolina ungvar // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 157 (1.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 2163 (7.3% involving a large truck) #25. Oregon TFoxFoto // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 64 (1.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 688 (9.3% involving a large truck) #24. Arizona NikomMaelao Production // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 111 (1.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1469 (7.6% involving a large truck) #23. Florida AFP Contributor // Getty Images – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 622 (2.1 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 5460 (11.4% involving a large truck) #17. Georgia Boriss Lonskis // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 230 (2.1 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 2387 (9.6% involving a large truck) #16. Indiana 5m3photos // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 148 (2.2 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1254 (11.8% involving a large truck) #15. North Dakota Vineyard Perspective // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 18 (2.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 136 (13.2% involving a large truck) #14. South Carolina Amelia Martin // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 119 (2.3 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1432 (8.3% involving a large truck) #13. Kansas UCG // Getty Images – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 69 (2.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 578 (11.9% involving a large truck) #12. Oklahoma Kaentian Street // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 94 (2.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 916 (10.3% involving a large truck) #11. Tennessee Carolyn Franks // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 165 (2.4 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1722 (9.6% involving a large truck) #10. Montana Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 27 (2.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 243 (11.1% involving a large truck) #9. Kentucky Reshetnikov_art // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 114 (2.5 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1074 (10.6% involving a large truck) #8. New Mexico light name // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 56 (2.6 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 540 (10.4% involving a large truck) #7. Idaho Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 49 (2.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 300 (16.3% involving a large truck) #6. Nebraska Martin Lisner // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 53 (2.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 333 (15.9% involving a large truck) #5. South Dakota SKT Studio // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 24 (2.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 191 (12.6% involving a large truck) #4. Alabama sezer66 // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 138 (2.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 1306 (10.6% involving a large truck) #3. Arkansas Juris Teivans // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 84 (2.8 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 847 (9.9% involving a large truck) #2. Mississippi Vitpho // Shutterstock – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 84 (2.8 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 969 (8.7% involving a large truck) #1. Wyoming Canva – Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 33 (5.7 per 100k people) – Total fatal crashes: 174 (19.0% involving a large truck) This story originally appeared on Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.