Michigan truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Michigan by year

Truck accident deaths numbered 71 in 2020, 111 in 2021, 115 in 2022, 102 in 2023 and 112 in 2024. Their shares of Michigan traffic deaths were 6.5%, 9.8%, 10.2%, 9.3% and 10.2%, respectively. Deaths were highest in 2022 and lowest in 2020; the highest share was tied in 2022 and 2024. The 2024 count was 41 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Michigan's share of national large-truck deaths was 1.4% in 2020, 1.9% in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and 2.1% in 2024. Across the full period, Michigan accounted for 1.9% of the national total of 27,553 deaths. These percentages describe deaths, not numbers of crashes.^{[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 Michigan truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 63 deaths, or 12.3%, while people in other vehicles accounted for 402 deaths, or 78.7%. The latter category had the largest share of Michigan truck accident deaths among the listed rows.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" records 46 deaths, or 9.0%. This FARS nonoccupant grouping includes pedestrians, pedalcyclists and other or unknown nonoccupants. It is not a literal test of being outside a vehicle: the other category can include occupants of parked motor vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Michigan's fatal crashes involved 501 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 255 trucks, or 50.9%; the single-unit and other large trucks category contained 246. There were 326 large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, representing 65.1% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records also identify 17 large trucks as jackknifed and 10 as carrying hazardous materials. Each figure in this section counts trucks, rather than truck accident deaths or fatal crashes. A crash can involve multiple large trucks, so vehicle counts and crash counts describe different measures. NHTSA's 2024 truck count for Michigan was 107.^{[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 totaled 94 in Michigan, or 18.4% of the period's large-truck crash deaths. The interstate classification uses the recorded route category and a parseable interstate route number. The listed routes are a route-coded subset, not the full road network.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

I-94 recorded 32 deaths in large-truck crashes and 161 deaths from all crashes on the route. I-75 recorded 25 large-truck crash deaths and 130 all-crash deaths. Those route totals must remain distinct from their large-truck figures. Separately, work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 37.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Wayne County had the highest truck accident death count, 71, followed by Kent County with 26. Their average annual rates were both 0.8 deaths per 100,000 residents. Oakland County recorded 20 deaths and a rate of 0.3; Macomb County recorded 19 and 0.4.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Eaton County recorded 16 deaths and the highest rate among the listed counties, 2.9. Oakland County had the lowest listed rate. Monroe County recorded 17 deaths and 2.2. These county rows are a subset, and counts and rates measure different things.^{[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 Michigan compares with the national rate

Michigan's average annual truck accident death rate was 1.0 per 100,000 residents, below the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts for 2020 through 2024 were 511 in Michigan and 27,553 nationally. These rates express deaths relative to population, rather than a share of traffic deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census Bureau population estimates for the full period; it is not Michigan's separate 2024 estimate of 10,099,962. Neither mileage nor visitors are adjustments in this calculation. When reading with a truck accident lawyer search in mind, keep this population-based measure distinct from the death count.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Angle collisions recorded 182 deaths. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" recorded 104 and means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport; vehicles stopped in traffic can be in transport.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime accounted for 362 deaths and nighttime 149. Urban locations recorded 263, rural locations 244, and unreported land use 4. Separately, crash configuration counted 73 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 326 in two-vehicle crashes and 112 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. These classifications describe different crash characteristics.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Michigan, 39 deaths occurred in single-vehicle crashes and 24 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These figures describe truck occupants alone, a subset of truck accident deaths that excludes people in other vehicles and nonoccupants.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Michigan'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. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county assignments follow crash location, not residence.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Michigan's rates divide period deaths by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates from Vintage 2025 and multiply by 100,000. This gives average annual deaths per 100,000 residents, without mileage or visitor adjustments; the separately displayed July 1, 2024 population is not the denominator.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-75 truck accidents in Michigan (2020-2024)
• I-94 truck accidents in Michigan (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Michigan car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Wayne County, Michigan (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Kent County, Michigan (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Oakland County, Michigan (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)