Colorado truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Colorado by year

Truck accident deaths numbered 78 in 2020, 102 in 2021, 107 in 2022, 91 in 2023 and 105 in 2024. Their respective shares of Colorado traffic deaths were 12.5%, 14.8%, 14.0%, 12.6% and 15.2%. The highest death count was in 2022; the lowest was in 2020. The 2024 count was 27 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Colorado's share of national large-truck deaths was 1.6% in 2020, 1.8% in both 2021 and 2022, 1.7% in 2023 and 2.0% in 2024. Across the period, Colorado accounted for 1.8% of the national total. The highest annual share of Colorado traffic deaths involving trucks was 15.2% in 2024.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File and can be revised when NHTSA publishes the final file.

Who died in Colorado truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 341 truck accident deaths, or 70.6%. People in the large truck accounted for 99 deaths, or 20.5%. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 43 deaths, or 8.9%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label identifies the FARS nonoccupant grouping, which includes pedestrians, pedalcyclists and other or unknown nonoccupants. Its other category can include occupants of parked motor vehicles. It is therefore not a literal test of whether someone was outside a vehicle. People in other vehicles were the largest death category.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in Colorado involved 465 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 244 trucks, or 52.5%. The single-unit and other large trucks category recorded 221 trucks. These are vehicle counts: they do not describe the number of truck accident deaths or the number of fatal crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 285, representing 61.3% of the large trucks. The records identified 25 large trucks as jackknifed and 10 as carrying hazardous materials. A fatal crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the truck count and crash count are distinct measures in these Colorado records.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Counts are trucks, not crashes. One crash can involve more than one large truck.

Interstates and crash types

Interstate truck accident deaths numbered 111 in Colorado during 2020 through 2024, accounting for 23.0% of deaths in large-truck crashes. The listed route records show 55 large-truck crash deaths on I-70 and 44 on I-25. Separately, all traffic deaths on those routes numbered 187 on I-70 and 226 on I-25.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Those all-traffic figures are not large-truck death counts. The listed routes form a route-coded subset rather than a complete road network. Work-zone records identified 26 deaths in large-truck crashes; that figure counts people killed, not trucks or crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Weld County had the highest truck accident death count, 80, with an average annual rate of 4.6 per 100,000 residents. Adams County and El Paso County each recorded 33 deaths, with rates of 1.2 and 0.9, respectively. Denver County recorded 27 deaths and a rate of 0.7.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Lincoln County had 11 deaths and the highest rate among the listed counties, 39.6. Counts and rates measure different things. These rows do not include every Colorado county, and rates with few deaths are sensitive to each death.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Up to 15 counties with the most deaths in the period, largest first. Rates for counties with few deaths change sharply with each death.

How Colorado compares with the national rate

Colorado's average annual truck accident death rate was 1.6 per 100,000 residents, matching the United States rate of 1.6. The corresponding death totals for 2020 through 2024 were 483 in Colorado and 27,553 nationally. Equal displayed rates do not mean equal death counts.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Each rate uses deaths divided by summed annual population estimates for the period, multiplied by 100,000. Colorado's separate July 1, 2024 population estimate of 5,988,502 is not that denominator. The rates make no adjustment for mileage or visitors. When reading with "truck accident lawyer" in mind, keep the death counts distinct from population-based rates.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" recorded 136 deaths (28.2%); it means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can be stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime recorded 319 deaths (66.0%); nighttime recorded 164 (34.0%). Urban locations recorded 181 (37.5%); rural locations recorded 302 (62.5%). Separate crash-configuration counts were 100 deaths (20.7%) in single-vehicle crashes, 296 (61.3%) in two-vehicle crashes and 87 (18.0%) in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration counts vehicles involved; it does not describe collision manner.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Colorado, 67 died in single-vehicle crashes and 32 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. This truck-occupant subset is distinct from all truck accident deaths, which also include people in other vehicles and nonoccupants.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Colorado's FARS records cover fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, with an occupant or nonoccupant dying within 30 days. They exclude nonfatal crashes and injuries. State and county assignments follow crash location, not the deceased person's residence.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates use summed annual Census Bureau population estimates, Vintage 2025, to express average annual deaths per 100,000 residents. They do not adjust for miles driven or visitors, and the separately displayed 2024 population is not the denominator.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-25 truck accidents in Colorado (2020-2024)
• I-70 truck accidents in Colorado (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Colorado car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Weld County, Colorado (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Adams County, Colorado (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Denver County, Colorado (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Arapahoe County, Colorado (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)