Truck and Bus Crash Statistics by State

Two Federal Crash Files, and Why They Disagree

There is no single number for "truck crashes in America", because two agencies count them for two different reasons. Both tables are on this page, and neither is wrong.

• FMCSA MCMIS — every crash a state police report ties to a commercial vehicle, where the crash met the federal reporting threshold: a fatality, an injury requiring treatment away from the scene, or a vehicle towed from the scene. Rebuilt daily, so it is current to within a couple of days.
• NHTSA FARS — every fatal crash on a US public road, of any vehicle type, investigated and coded from police reports, death certificates and state records. Far richer per crash, but it runs about two years behind, and its "large truck" flag uses a weight definition of its own.
• The gap is expected — MCMIS records more truck crashes because it counts injury and tow-away crashes too; FARS records more fatal crashes because it counts every fatal crash, not just those involving a commercial vehicle.
• Crashes, not trucks — MCMIS files one record per commercial vehicle involved, so a pile-up appears several times. Every count here is of distinct crashes; the "CMVs Involved" column is the raw record count, and the gap between the two is how often more than one rig was in it.

Fatal Crashes by State — NHTSA FARS 2023

All fatal crashes, not only commercial ones, so the truck-involved column is the one to read against the table above. This is the final release.

Conditions Behind the Numbers