April 10, 2019
Last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published an early-release of its annual Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts for 2017. The 118 page report details crash statistics for large trucks and buses from 1975 through 2017. Large trucks are defined as vehicles with a gross vehicle weight over 10,000 pounds.
The data illustrates an upward trend in fatal wrecks involving large trucks and buses over the last decade. For example, there was a 9% increase in fatal wrecks from 2016 to 2017 involving large trucks and buses. The same increase from 2009 through 2017 was 42%.
The data also shows that the combined 2016 to 2017 increase in large truck and bus involved deaths was attributable to large truck crashes. Large truck involved deaths increased from 4,251 to 4,657, or 10%, between 2016 and 2017. On the other hand, buses involved in fatal crashes decreased 1% from 2016 to 2017.
The increased trend from 2009 to 2016 marks a reversal from the general overall decrease in fatalities from 1975 until 2008.
The early release-release report can be found at:
