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Truck-tractor

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Truck-tractor truck accident data describe a vehicle category within NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS. The national figures here select vehicles classified under NCSA Body Type attribute 66 and count their involvement in fatal crashes. Across the United States, covering 50 states and the District of Columbia, 2,869 truck-tractors were involved in fatal crashes in 2024. The corresponding large-truck count was 5,218 vehicles. These are vehicle totals, not counts of crashes, deaths or residents. The 2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Contents

Official definition

The FARS Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 identifies attribute 66 in V16, NCSA Body Type, as Truck/Tractor (Cab Only, or With Any Number of Trailing Units: Any Weight). That official definition covers the truck-tractor power unit whether it operates without a trailer or pulls trailing units. A truck-tractor towing a semi-trailer and a bobtail truck-tractor therefore share this classification. NCSA Body Type describes general vehicle configuration, size, shape and doors. For the operational selection used here, the relevant attribute is 66, which NHTSA lists for 2020 and later data.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

National figures

The national series illustrates how many vehicles in fatal crashes received the truck-tractor classification. In 2020, FARS recorded 2,883 truck-tractors alongside 4,821 large trucks. In 2021, the respective vehicle counts were 3,417 and 5,733. The 2022 figures were 3,355 truck-tractors and 5,873 large trucks, followed in 2023 by 3,086 truck-tractors and 5,382 large trucks. The large-truck column supplies a broader vehicle-category comparison because NHTSA includes body type 66 among its large-truck classes. Neither column counts people killed, and these national illustrative totals do not describe all crashes involving those vehicles.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

National figures[1][2][3][4][5]
YearTruck-tractors in fatal crashesLarge trucks in fatal crashes
20202,8834,821
20213,4175,733
20223,3555,873
20233,0865,382
20242,8695,218

United States, 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vehicle counts. 2024 is the FARS Annual Report File.

What the term does not tell you

Body type 66 alone does not reveal how many trailers were attached; FARS records trailer configuration in a separate vehicle-file element. Its inclusion of a cab operating alone also means the classification cannot establish that a trailer was present. A fatal crash can involve more than one truck-tractor, so the vehicle count cannot be substituted for a crash count. Classification likewise provides no finding about who caused a crash. No population rate or population denominator is supplied here, and the fatal-only selection does not measure truck-tractor involvement in nonfatal crashes.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

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 "Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  7. abcd "Large trucks: 2024 data (DOT HS 813 816, June 2026)". National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Official source. Checked . Source record
  8. 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