Connecticut truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Connecticut by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 27 in 2020, 27 in 2021, 39 in 2022, 37 in 2023 and 33 in 2024. Their respective shares of Connecticut traffic deaths were 9.0%, 8.9%, 10.7%, 12.0% and 10.6%. The highest death count occurred in 2022; 2020 and 2021 tied for the lowest. The truck accident share was highest in 2023 and lowest in 2021. The 2024 death count was 6 higher than in 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Connecticut's share of the national large-truck death total was 0.5% in 2020 and 2021, 0.7% in 2022 and 2023, and 0.6% in 2024. Those pairs tied for the lowest and highest annual national shares, respectively. Across 2020 through 2024, Connecticut accounted for 0.6% of the national total of 27,553 deaths.^{[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 Connecticut truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 120 deaths, or 73.6% of Connecticut truck accident deaths. People in the large truck accounted for 22 deaths, or 13.5%. The row labeled "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" accounted for 21 deaths, or 12.9%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label identifies the FARS nonoccupant grouping: pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and other or unknown nonoccupants. The other category can include occupants of motor vehicles not in transport, such as parked vehicles. It therefore does not impose a literal test of being outside a vehicle.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Connecticut fatal crashes involved 157 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors numbered 75, representing 47.8% of those trucks. The category Single-unit and other large trucks accounted for 82. There were 103 large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, representing 65.6% of the large trucks involved.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records also identified 4 large trucks as jackknifed and 4 as carrying hazardous materials. Every figure in this section counts trucks, rather than truck accident deaths or fatal crashes. A single crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the vehicle count is distinct from the count of fatal crashes involving them.^{[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 in Connecticut numbered 85 during 2020 through 2024, accounting for 52.1% of the state's large-truck crash deaths. The listed route figures record 32 large-truck crash deaths on I-95 and 24 on I-84. Separately, all traffic deaths on those routes numbered 97 and 82, respectively.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

These listed routes are a route-coded subset, not a complete road network. Interstate identification uses the route classification and a parseable interstate route number. Work-zone records counted 9 deaths in large-truck crashes, a measure of people killed rather than vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

How Connecticut compares with the national rate

Connecticut's average annual truck accident death rate was 0.9 per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024. The national rate was 1.6, placing Connecticut below the United States on this measure. The corresponding death totals were 163 for Connecticut and 27,553 nationally; those totals remain separate from the population-based rates.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census Bureau population estimates across the period. It does not use only Connecticut's July 1, 2024 population estimate of 3,674,449. Dividing deaths by that summed population and multiplying by 100,000 yields the average annual rate. Neither miles driven nor visitors are adjustments in this calculation.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Rear-end crashes recorded 54 deaths. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" recorded 37; it means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include a vehicle stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime recorded 85 deaths and nighttime 78. Urban locations recorded 141, rural locations 20, and unreported land use 2. Separately, crash configuration recorded 31 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 107 in two-vehicle crashes and 25 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration and manner are distinct classifications.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Connecticut, 13 were in single-vehicle crashes and 9 were in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. This truck occupant subset is distinct from all truck accident deaths, which also include other vehicle occupants and nonoccupants.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Connecticut records come from NHTSA FARS, a census limited to fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Inclusion requires a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded.^[9][6][7][8]

State and county assignments follow crash location fields, not the deceased person's residence. Connecticut's 2020 through 2023 records use Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates use summed annual Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates and multiply deaths divided by that denominator by 100,000. The separately displayed July 1, 2024 estimate is not the denominator. Rates make no adjustment for mileage or visitors.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-84 truck accidents in Connecticut (2020-2024)
• I-95 truck accidents in Connecticut (2020-2024)