Truck accident statistics for Centre County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Centre County by year

Truck accident deaths numbered 3 in 2020 and remained at 3 in 2021. The count rose to 5 in 2022, then to 9 in 2023, before falling to 1 in 2024. The highest count was in 2023, and the lowest was in 2024. The 2024 count was 2 deaths lower than the 2020 count.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The truck accident share of all traffic deaths was 21.4% in 2020, 30.0% in 2021, 27.8% in 2022, 60.0% in 2023 and 14.3% in 2024. All traffic deaths numbered 14, 10, 18, 15 and 7 in those respective years. While truck accident deaths reached their highest count in 2023, all traffic deaths reached their highest count in 2022.^{[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 Centre County truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 5 deaths, or 23.8%. People in other vehicles accounted for 13 deaths, or 61.9%, the largest person category. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" accounted for 3 deaths, or 14.3%, the smallest category.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label represents the FARS nonoccupant grouping, including pedestrians, pedalcyclists and other or unknown nonoccupants. It can include occupants of parked motor vehicles, so it is not a literal test of being outside a vehicle. These categories describe people killed in truck accidents, not just truck occupants.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in Centre County involved 24 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors, described in the table as semi or tractor-trailer units, numbered 20 and represented 83.3% of those trucks. Single-unit and other large trucks numbered 4. The count of large trucks recorded as jackknifed was 0.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

These are vehicle counts within fatal truck accidents. They are distinct from the 19 fatal crashes and 21 deaths recorded for the period. A crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the truck count does not represent a count of separate crashes or people killed.^{[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 accounted for 8 deaths (38.1%); angle (side impact), 3 (14.3%); rear-end, 4 (19.0%); sideswipe, 0 (0.0%); and other, 1 (4.8%). "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" accounted for 5 deaths (23.8%). It means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, including events such as striking a pedestrian, cyclist, parked vehicle or fixed object, or a rollover. A vehicle stopped in traffic can be in transport.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Separately, truck accident configuration counts were single-vehicle, 4 deaths (19.0%); two-vehicle, 15 (71.4%); and three or more vehicles, 2 (9.5%). These describe vehicle involvement, separate from manner of collision.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Interstates, time of day and setting

Interstate truck accident deaths numbered 11, representing 52.4% of the county total. The listed route-coded counts were 10 deaths on I-80 and 1 on I-99. These figures use the interstate route classification plus a parseable interstate route number; the listed routes are a coded subset, not a full road network.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime accounted for 9 deaths (42.9%), while nighttime accounted for 12 (57.1%). Urban locations recorded 5 deaths (23.8%), and rural locations recorded 16 (76.2%). The work-zone count was 1 death. Each of these figures counts deaths, rather than trucks or fatal crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck accident death rate compared with Pennsylvania and the United States

Centre County's truck accident death rate was 2.7 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024. Pennsylvania's rate was 1.3, and the national rate was 1.6. The county rate was higher than both. The corresponding death counts were 21 for Centre County, 826 for Pennsylvania and 27,553 for the United States.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The rates use deaths divided by the sum of annual population estimates, multiplied by 100,000. They do not adjust for miles driven or visitors. No neighboring county rates are supplied in this fact sheet. For readers searching for a truck accident lawyer, these counts are grouped by crash location, not by the home county of the people killed.^{[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

FARS is a census of fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Inclusion requires a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. County assignment follows crash location, not where those killed lived.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 figures use FARS Final Files. The 2024 Annual Report File figures can change when replaced with the Final File. Rates divide deaths by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates from Vintage 2025 and multiply by 100,000. The separate July 1, 2024 estimate of 158,505 is not the denominator. Rates measure average annual deaths per 100,000 residents without adjusting for miles driven or visitors.^[9][6][7][8]