Missouri truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Missouri by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 110 in 2020, 137 in 2021, 146 in 2022, 120 in 2023 and 144 in 2024. Their respective shares of Missouri traffic deaths were 11.1%, 13.5%, 13.8%, 12.1% and 15.1%. The highest death count occurred in 2022; the lowest occurred in 2020. The 2024 count was 34 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Missouri accounted for 2.4% of national large-truck deaths during the period. Annual national shares were 2.2%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.2% and 2.7%, respectively. The lowest share was tied in 2020 and 2023; the highest was in 2024. Missouri's share of its own traffic deaths also reached its highest level 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 Missouri truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 450 truck accident deaths, or 68.5%, the largest person category. People in the large truck accounted for 135 deaths, or 20.5%. The row labeled "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 72 deaths, or 11.0%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label represents the FARS nonoccupant grouping: 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 motor vehicles not in transport, such as parked vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Missouri fatal crashes involved 654 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 398 vehicles, or 60.9% of those trucks. The single-unit and other large trucks category recorded 256 vehicles. Large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 484, representing 74.0% of the large-truck total.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The truck accident records also identified 31 large trucks as jackknifed and 16 as carrying hazardous materials. Each figure in this section counts trucks rather than crashes or deaths. A fatal crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the vehicle counts describe truck involvement rather than the number of separate fatal events.^{[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 210 in Missouri, representing 32.0% of large-truck crash deaths. Among the listed rows, I-44 had the highest large-truck death count at 61, followed by I-70 at 52 and I-55 at 24.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

All traffic deaths on those routes were separate figures: 165 on I-44, 187 on I-70 and 97 on I-55. The listed routes are a route-coded subset, not the full road network. Work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 35; that figure counts people killed, rather than trucks or crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Jackson County and St. Louis County tied for the highest truck accident death count at 46 each. Their average annual rates per 100,000 residents were 1.3 and 0.9, respectively. Greene County recorded 32 deaths and a rate of 2.1.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

New Madrid County had 11 deaths and the highest listed rate, 14.0. St. Charles County had 15 deaths and the lowest listed rate, 0.7. These rows are a supplied subset. With small death counts, individual deaths can sharply change county rates.^{[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 Missouri compares with the national rate

Missouri's average annual truck accident death rate was 2.1 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts for 2020 through 2024 were 657 in Missouri and 27,553 nationally. These rates compare deaths against population, without adjustments for miles driven or visitors.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census Bureau population estimates for the period, using Vintage 2025, rather than using only the latest population. Missouri's separately reported July 1, 2024 estimate was 6,243,544. Readers searching for a truck accident lawyer should keep the population-based rate distinct from a death count.^{[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" accounted for 195 deaths; it means no collision with another motor vehicle in transport. Such a vehicle can be stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime truck accident deaths numbered 435; nighttime deaths numbered 221. Urban deaths numbered 257, while rural deaths numbered 392. Separately, crash configuration recorded 141 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 386 in two-vehicle crashes and 130 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration counts vehicles involved, distinct from manner of collision.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Missouri truck accidents, 87 died in single-vehicle crashes and 48 in crashes involving multiple vehicles. These figures describe truck occupants only. They are a subset of all people killed in crashes involving a large truck.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Missouri's FARS records cover fatal 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 recorded crash locations, not victims' residences.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Average annual rates divide deaths by summed annual Census population estimates, Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000. They use neither the separate July 1, 2024 population alone nor adjustments for mileage or visitors when expressing deaths per 100,000 residents.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-44 truck accidents in Missouri (2020-2024)
• I-55 truck accidents in Missouri (2020-2024)
• I-70 truck accidents in Missouri (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Missouri car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Jackson County, Missouri (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Greene County, Missouri (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Boone County, Missouri (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)