TruckAccidentLawyer.wikiTruck Crash Reference

Multiple-vehicle truck crash

From TruckAccidentLawyer.wiki, a sourced reference on large-truck crashes

For this reference, a multiple-vehicle truck crash means a fatal crash involving a large truck that NHTSA FARS classifies as involving two vehicles or more than two vehicles. The national illustrative figures count people killed in those crashes, not trucks or crash events. In 2024, the United States recorded 3,294 deaths in two-vehicle crashes involving large trucks and 963 deaths in crashes with three or more vehicles involving large trucks. These figures come from the 2024 FARS Annual Report File and cover fatal crashes only.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Contents

Official definition

The official classification comes from the FARS Auxiliary Datasets Analytical User's Manual, which defines ACC_AUX A_CT Crash Type as 1 Single-Vehicle Crash, 2 Two-Vehicle Crash and 3 More Than Two-Vehicle Crash. Those categories describe the vehicles in transport involved in a crash. The operational selection for this topic combines A_LT = 1, identifying a crash involving a large truck, with A_CT = 2 or A_CT = 3. The resulting selection excludes single-vehicle crashes involving large trucks, which remain a separate crash-type category.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

National figures

The national figures cover the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among the supplied annual rows, 2022 has the highest death count in each category: 3,702 deaths in two-vehicle crashes involving large trucks and 1,103 deaths in crashes with three or more vehicles involving large trucks. In 2023, the corresponding counts were 3,332 deaths and 1,020 deaths. These are counts of people killed in the selected fatal crashes, rather than counts of large trucks involved.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

National figures[1][2][3][4][5]
YearDeaths in two-vehicle crashes involving large trucksDeaths in crashes with three or more vehicles involving large trucks
20203,052885
20213,6321,090
20223,7021,103
20233,3321,020
20243,294963

United States, 50 states and the District of Columbia. Deaths in crashes with ACC_AUX A_LT = 1, by A_CT crash type. 2024 is the FARS Annual Report File.

What the term does not tell you

Crash type establishes how many vehicles in transport were involved; it does not establish which vehicle struck another or who was at fault. A multiple-vehicle crash can account for more than one death, so the death totals cannot be read as crash totals. The figures also do not identify all deaths as large-truck occupants. NHTSA FARS covers fatal crashes, leaving nonfatal crashes outside this selection. No population denominator or population rate is supplied, and these national illustrative counts do not establish crash risk.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

On related publications

References

  1. abcde "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2020 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  2. abcde "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2021 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  3. abcde "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2022 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  4. abcde "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2023 national data files (Final File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  5. abcde "Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2024 national data files (Annual Report File)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  6. abcd "FARS Auxiliary Datasets Analytical User's Manual, 1982-2019 (DOT HS 813 071)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  7. abcd "Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  8. abcd "Large trucks: 2024 data (DOT HS 813 816, June 2026)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  9. abcd "Overview of motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2024 (DOT HS 813 791, April 2026)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record