Big rigs, semitrucks and box trucks are dangerous when they get into crashes because of their sheer weight and size. Moreover, since they’re slower moving and poorly maneuvering, they are more at risk of getting into accidents than other types of vehicles.
According to the latest statistics, there were approximately 415,000 commercial truck related crashes that happened in 2015. Let’s take a look at a few more statistics from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
2015 statistics regarding commercial vehicle crashes
The more truck drivers and smaller vehicle drivers know about commercial vehicle crashes, the more aware and careful they’ll be when driving. Let’s take a closer view of the most recent information from 2015 statistics:
- Among the 415,000 commercial trucking crashes that happened in 2015, 3,598 were fatal and 83,000 involved injuries.
- Twenty percent of the fatal crashes with commercial trucks involved a single vehicle (which includes crashes with pedestrians, bicyclists and nonmotorized vehicles).
- Sixty-four percent of fatal crashes with commercial trucks involved two vehicles.
- Sixty percent of fatal truck crashes happened along rural roadways and 25 percent happened on Interstate roads.
- Thirty-five percent of fatal truck crashes happened in the evening from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
- Eighty-three percent of fatal truck crashes and 89 percent of nonfatal truck crashes happened on weekdays, from Monday to Friday.
- Four percent of fatal truck crashes involved a rollover event.
- 2015 experienced a 6 percent increase in fatal truck accidents per million U.S. residents compared to 2010. Approximately 11.2 people out of every million U.S. residents died in a fatal truck crash that year.
Were you or a family member hurt in a fatal trucking accident?
Different rules and regulations apply to truck drivers and trucking companies that employ truck drivers. These different rules will play a vital role in the pursuit of personal injury and/or wrongful death damages following any fatal truck crash. As such, it’s important for victims and their family members to research these rules during the evaluation of any potential claim for damages.