Truck accident statistics for Lea County, New Mexico (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Lea County by year

Truck accident deaths rose from 4 in 2020 to 7 in 2021, remained at 7 in 2022, fell to 5 in 2023 and rose to 15 in 2024. The highest count was 15 in 2024, and the lowest was 4 in 2020. The 2024 count was 11 deaths higher than the 2020 count.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The annual share of all traffic deaths followed a different pattern. It was 28.6% in 2020, 50.0% in 2021, 33.3% in 2022, 27.8% in 2023 and 48.4% in 2024. The highest share occurred in 2021, while the lowest occurred in 2023. Across 2020 through 2024, the average annual count was 7.6 truck accident deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Deaths within 30 days in crashes on public roads. 2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File and can be revised.

Who died in Lea County truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 7 deaths, or 18.4%. People in other vehicles accounted for 29 deaths, or 76.3%, the majority of truck accident deaths. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 2 deaths, or 5.3%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label represents the FARS nonoccupant grouping, including pedestrians, pedalcyclists and other or unknown nonoccupants. Its other category can include occupants of parked motor vehicles. It therefore does not mean that everyone in the category was physically outside a vehicle. These categories describe the people killed in the qualifying crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

The vehicle count for fatal crashes involving large trucks in Lea County was 42 for 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors, identified in the table as semi or tractor-trailer units, accounted for 30 trucks and 71.4% of the large trucks. Single-unit and other large trucks accounted for 12. The count of large trucks recorded as jackknifed was 0.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

These are vehicle counts, distinct from the 34 fatal crashes and 38 truck accident deaths. A crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the trucks table does not assign a separate crash or death to each counted vehicle.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Counts are trucks, not crashes. One crash can involve more than one large truck.

How the fatal truck crashes happened

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Head-on recorded 12 deaths (31.6%); rear-end, 10 (26.3%); angle (side impact), 6 (15.8%); and sideswipe, 4 (10.5%). "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" recorded 6 deaths (15.8%). This means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include a vehicle stopped in traffic. Examples include striking a pedestrian, cyclist, parked vehicle or fixed object, or a rollover.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Separately, truck accident deaths by crash configuration were single-vehicle, 4 (10.5%); two-vehicle, 23 (60.5%); and three or more vehicles, 11 (28.9%). Configuration describes vehicle counts rather than manner of collision.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Interstates, time of day and setting

Interstate-coded truck accident deaths numbered 0, a 0.0% share. That classification requires an interstate route code and a parseable I-route number in the roadway identifier. The packet supplies no individual interstate route counts; the route-coded figures do not describe the full road network.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime, from 6 a.m. to 5:59 p.m., accounted for 10 deaths (26.3%). Nighttime, from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., accounted for 28 (73.7%). Urban locations recorded 3 deaths (7.9%), while rural locations recorded 35 (92.1%). Work-zone deaths numbered 2. These location and time figures count deaths, not trucks or crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck accident death rate compared with New Mexico and the United States

Lea County's truck accident death rate was 10.3 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024. The corresponding rate was 3.9 for New Mexico and 1.6 for the United States. Lea County's rate was higher than both. Eddy County, New Mexico, the listed neighboring county, recorded a rate of 8.5, also lower than Lea County's 10.3.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The rates use deaths at crash locations and annual Census population estimates. They do not adjust for miles driven or visitors, and they do not measure deaths among county residents specifically. Whether your search began with statistics or the phrase "truck accident lawyer," read these comparisons as rates grouped by crash location.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Rates divide deaths by the sum of annual Census population estimates, so they show deaths per 100,000 residents per year. They do not adjust for miles driven or for visitors.

About these figures

Fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes are counted in the FARS census. To qualify for inclusion, a crash must involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and the death of an occupant or nonoccupant within 30 days. Neither nonfatal crashes nor injuries are included. Counts are assigned to counties according to where crashes occurred, not where the people killed lived.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 figures use FARS Final Files. The 2024 Annual Report File can change when replaced by the Final File. Rates divide 2020 through 2024 deaths by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates from Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000. The separately displayed July 1, 2024 population estimate is not the denominator. Rates do not adjust for miles driven or visitors.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• Truck accident statistics for Eddy County, New Mexico (2020-2024)