Truck Accident Statistics – 2023 Edition

Updated 5/17/2023

Based on our research, there are more than 168k truck accidents every year, around 32% of which involve an injury and around 3% result in a fatality.

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To better understand truck accidents, our team researched where and why they happen, how many people are injured or killed as a result, and the financial costs incurred.

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For clarity purposes, we present data for all trucks below but we also break out of data for just semi-trucks.

Table of Contents

Truck Accident Statistics – All Large Trucks

Semi-Truck Accident Statistics

Cost of Truck Accidents & Lawsuits

Sources

About the author

Kyle Fretwell has worked as a researcher and data-journalist for over a decade. His work has appeared in publications such as Bloomberg, Fox Business, MSN, USA Today, CNBC, and the Houston Chronicle.

He now manages TruckInfo.net's content team and is a regular fixture at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville.

Truck Accident Statistics – All Large Trucks

A “large truck” is typically defined as a truck with a gross vehicle rating weight greater than 10,000 pounds. As such, all statistics in this section refer to this subset of vehicles. For example, lightweight pickup trucks like the Ford F-150 are excluded but larger pickups like the F-350 are included. We cover statistics exclusive to semi-trucks below.

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Total Truck Accidents

How many truck accidents are there per year?

There were 168,320 truck accidents in 2022. 4,766 of these accidents were fatal for one or more persons involved.¹

Truck Accidents by State

Texas had the most truck accidents in 2022. California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Illinois rounded out the top five.¹

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‍RELATED: See our guides to car hauler insurance and the best commercial truck insurance companies.

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Truck Accidents with Injuries

How many people are injured in truck accidents every year?

76,180 individuals were injured in a truck accident in 2022.¹

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Roughly 71% of injuries are from occupants in other vehicles, while 27% of fatalities are occupants of the large truck. Around 2% are other individuals such as pedestrians or bicyclists.²

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People injured in truck accidents by occupant type — Truck accident injuries by occupant type

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What percentage of truck accidents result in an injury?

32% of truck accidents resulted in an injury in 2022. Out of the 168,320 accidents, 54,667 resulted in an injury.¹

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Note: The number of truck accidents resulting in an injury is lower than the number of individuals injured during a truck accident because multiple individuals can be injured in a single accident.

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Truck Accidents with Injuries by State

Texas had the most truck accidents with injuries followed by California, New York, Florida, and North Carolina.¹

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‍RELATED: Protect your business with hot shot trucking insurance.

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Fatal Truck Accidents

How many people are killed in truck accidents every year?

5,370 people were killed in truck accidents in 2022.¹

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While roughly 17% of fatalities are occupants of the large truck, approximately 72% are occupants in other vehicles. The remaining 11% are other individuals such as pedestrians or bicyclists.²

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More than 1/3 of truckers killed during a crash are not buckled-up.³

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People killed in truck accidents by occupant type — Truck accident fatalities by occupant type

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What percentage of truck accidents result in a fatality?

Around 2.8% of truck accidents result in a fatality.¹

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What percentage of fatal truck accidents involve alcohol?

2.4% of fatal truck accidents involved alcohol.¹

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Fatal Truck Accidents by State

Texas had the most fatal truck accidents in 2022 followed by California, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois.¹

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Truck vs Car Accident Statistics

How many car accidents are there per year?

There were 5,250,766 accidents in 2020. Only 2.8% of these involved a large truck.¹

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How many fatal car accidents are there per year?

There were 35,766 fatal motor vehicle accidents in 2020. Around 12.5% of these involved a large truck.¹

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Summary Truck Accident Data by State

State	All Accidents	Fatal Accidents	Injury Accidents
Alabama	4,341	143	1349
Alaska	38	5	8
Arizona	2,632	135	385
Arkansas	2,930	89	928
California	13,603	459	4172
Colorado	1,946	85	451
Connecticut	1,513	27	416
Delaware	604	18	220
Dist. Of Columbia	113	0	48
Florida	9,243	261	3193
Georgia	6,667	218	2100
Hawaii	112	3	50
Idaho	692	24	276
Illinois	7,544	193	2501
Indiana	5,640	145	1286
Iowa	2,223	71	625
Kansas	1,816	61	401
Kentucky	3,082	80	956
Louisiana	3,594	98	1657
Maine	793	8	336
Maryland	3,629	51	1194
Massachusetts	2,060	29	623
Michigan	5,743	96	1202
Minnesota	2,332	54	566
Mississippi	1,835	49	704
Missouri	5,588	123	1617
Montana	791	19	170
Nebraska	1,019	41	366
Nevada	696	27	266
New Hampshire	384	14	98
New Jersey	3,772	56	1632
New Mexico	821	44	235
New York	6,876	116	3416
North Carolina	6,156	140	2709
North Dakota	655	25	159
Ohio	3,969	127	1230
Oklahoma	2,346	75	723
Oregon	1,910	64	485
Pennsylvania	7,646	158	2218
Rhode Island	159	5	65
South Carolina	3,018	109	1201
South Dakota	369	18	42
Tennessee	4,703	155	1402
Texas	19,424	692	7517
Utah	1,018	38	343
Vermont	184	8	68
Virginia	5,150	114	1491
Washington	2,269	78	350
West Virginia	1,005	27	304
Wisconsin	2,564	65	715
Wyoming	1,103	26	198

Semi-Truck Accident Statistics

Total Semi-truck Accidents

How many semi-truck accidents are there per year?

116,353 semi-trucks were involved in an accident in 2022.¹ Around 1 in 3 long-haul truckers will be involved in a serious truck accident during their career.³

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Semi-truck Accidents by State

In 2022, Texas had the most semi-truck accidents followed by California, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois.¹

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‍RELATED: Are you an owner operator? Make sure you have bobtail insurance coverage.

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Semi-truck Accidents with Injuries

What percentage of semi-truck accidents result in an injury?

In 2022, approximately 30% of semi-trucks involved in an accident resulted in an injury.¹

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Semi-truck Accidents with Injuries by State

In 2022, Texas had the most semi-truck accidents with injuries with 5,846, more twice as many as California, which ranked second with 2,675 accidents with injuries.¹

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Fatal Semi-truck Accidents

What percentage of semi-truck accidents result in a fatality?

In 2022, approximately 3% of semi-trucks involved in an accident resulted in a fatality.¹

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Fatal Semi-truck Accidents by State

In 2022, Texas had the most fatal semi-truck accidents followed by California, Florida, and Georgia.¹

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Summary Semi-truck Accident Data by State

State	All Accidents	Fatal Accidents	Injury Accidents
Alabama	3,112	117	962
Alaska	23	5	5
Arizona	2,171	116	334
Arkansas	2,444	103	732
California	9,365	305	2,675
Colorado	1,432	57	327
Connecticut	845	19	221
Delaware	343	15	111
Dist. Of Columbia	23	0	10
Florida	5,801	186	1,987
Georgia	4,878	166	1,553
Hawaii	33	2	15
Idaho	569	28	224
Illinois	4,773	129	1,531
Indiana	4,546	118	999
Iowa	1,702	50	476
Kansas	1,456	53	311
Kentucky	2,329	65	689
Louisiana	2,633	75	1,173
Maine	335	4	146
Maryland	891	19	257
Massachusetts	1,048	14	303
Michigan	3,594	70	765
Minnesota	1,632	41	369
Mississippi	1,591	43	612
Missouri	3,920	87	1,078
Montana	687	22	140
Nebraska	898	39	327
Nevada	630	21	236
New Hampshire	167	9	42
New Jersey	1,434	23	625
New Mexico	964	61	269
New York	2,842	59	1,307
North Carolina	4,134	100	1,782
North Dakota	450	17	113
Ohio	3,997	147	1,227
Oklahoma	2,132	74	617
Oregon	1,568	58	418
Pennsylvania	4,253	92	1,164
Rhode Island	74	2	27
South Carolina	2,332	77	899
South Dakota	328	15	35
Tennessee	2,262	85	642
Texas	15,916	584	5,846
Utah	624	21	196
Vermont	122	4	41
Virginia	3,640	88	960
Washington	1,667	54	234
West Virginia	890	25	247
Wisconsin	1,676	41	454
Wyoming	1,177	27	209

Cost of Truck Accidents & Lawsuits

While verdicts and settlements of under $1 million are significantly more common than nuclear verdicts of over $10 million, fewer than 2% of reported insurance claims result in any litigation action at all.⁴

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Costs

What is the average verdict size for a truck accident lawsuit?

Trucking companies facing litigation for small verdicts and settlements (under $1 million) can expect $406k to $449k in plaintiff payments 95% of the time. For cases over $1M, the mean plaintiff payment was $3.1 million as of 2019.⁴

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Cost per mile of insurance premiums by fleet size

As a result of nuclear insurance verdicts, trucking companies have seen insurance premiums go up. Small fleets are the most affected.⁴

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Cost per mile of truck insurance by fleet size — Cost per mile insurance premiums by fleet size

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Plaintiff payments by amount in the ATRI Litigation Database

The American Transportation Research Institute found that most truck accident lawsuits had plaintiff payments of under $2 million, or where more than $5 million.⁴

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Cost of truck accident lawsuits by verdict size — Plaintiff payments from truck accidents

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Cost Factors

Most expensive crash types in nuclear verdicts (more than $1 million)

Spin and roll accidents are by car the most expensive types of accidents in nuclear verdicts.⁴

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Truck accident verdict size by type of crash — Truck accident verdict size by type of accident

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Truck accident verdict size if children are involved vs not involved

Truck accidents lawsuits are significantly more expensive when children are involved.⁴

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Average verdict size of accidents involving a child — Truck accident verdict size when a child is involved vs not involved

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Truck accident verdict size with spinal cord injury vs no spinal cord injury

The cost of a truck accident lawsuit is significantly more expensive if a spinal cord injury is involved⁴

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Average verdict size of accidents involving a spinal cord injury — Truck accident verdict size when there is a spinal cord injury vs no spinal cord injury

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Percent of cases that yielded a nuclear plaintiff verdict (more than $1 million) by issue brought against the defendant

When just looking at cases that yielded a nuclear verdict, 100% of cases were ruled in favor of the plaintiff when the case involved HOS issues, driver history issues, controlled substance use, health related issues, or improper actions after the crash (like leaving the scene or not calling 911).⁴

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Issues brought against defendants in truck accidents and verdict — Percent of plaintiff verdicts by issue brough against defendant

Sources

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^1.^{Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration}

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‍^2.^{National Safety Council}

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^3.^{Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}

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^4. ^{American Transportation Research Institute}

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