WASHINGTON — Deaths from crashes involving at least one large truck fell 11% in 2023, according to the latest data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, hitting the lowest point in six years.
The drop in fatalities – from 5,417 in 2022 to 4,807 in 2023 – followed a corresponding 7% decrease in crashes overall that involved at least one large truck, which fell from 168,816 to 156,553. Injuries resulting from such crashes decreased 3%, from 76,550 to 74,001.
Large-truck crashes and fatalities spiked in 2021, during the height of the pandemic, but have come down in each of the past two years since then. The 4,807 deaths in 2023 was the lowest since 2018, when FMCSA recorded 4,984 fatalities (see chart).
The full-year Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) data released by FMCSA on Tuesday follows a trend that started in the first quarter of 2023, which showed fatalities down 14% compared with the same period in 2022.
It also roughly aligned with data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which estimated fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck in 2023 decreased 8%, from 5,936 in 2022 to 5,439 in 2023.
Like FMCSA, NHTSA defines large trucks as having over a 10,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). However, NHTSA also includes noncommercial vehicles, such as heavy pickup trucks, which may account for the higher overall numbers.
MCMIS data compiled by FMCSA, on the other hand, defines a reportable large-truck crash as a fatal, injury or towaway crash involving at least one large truck “designed, used, or maintained primarily for carrying property.” It covers a weight-class range from Class 3 to Class 8, which includes delivery vans and box trucks up to large tractor-trailers.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told members of Congress last month that his department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy, unveiled in January 2022, has been helping to curb highway deaths over the past two years.
For trucking, a drop in new operating authorities – which shot up during the pandemic when rates began to climb – could also be factoring into the improved safety statistics.
Asked to comment, Zach Cahalan, who represents truck crash victims and their families as executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, told FreightWaves in an email that he and his members “hope that this downward trend is confirmed when NHTSA publishes its official truck crash fatality figures for 2023.” The coalition recently took DOT to task for delaying safety rulemakings.
“Far too many lives are lost needlessly in preventable large truck crashes every year, and TSC and our victim-advocates will never stop fighting for change.”
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