Montana truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Montana by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 30 in 2020, 38 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 34 in 2023 and 31 in 2024. Their shares of Montana traffic deaths were 14.1%, 15.9%, 19.5%, 16.3% and 15.0%, respectively. Deaths and shares were highest in 2022 and lowest in 2020. The 2024 death count was 1 higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Montana's share of national large-truck deaths was 0.6% for the period. Annual shares tied at their highest, 0.7%, in 2021 and 2022; their lowest, 0.6%, occurred in 2020, 2023 and 2024. All traffic deaths reached their highest count of 239 in 2021 and their lowest of 206 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 Montana truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 45 deaths, or 25.7%, while people in other vehicles accounted for 109, or 62.3%. The latter category had the largest share of Montana truck accident deaths. "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" accounted for 21 deaths, or 12.0%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

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

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in Montana involved 163 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 82 trucks, or 50.3%; the single-unit and other large trucks category counted 81. There were 95 large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, representing 58.3% of the large trucks involved.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Records identified 12 large trucks as jackknifed and 3 as carrying hazardous materials. Every figure in this section counts trucks, rather than truck accident deaths or fatal crashes. Multiple large trucks can be involved in a crash. The vehicle counts therefore describe truck involvement, separately from the counts of people killed.^{[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 53 in Montana, accounting for 30.3% of the period's large-truck crash deaths. The listed I-90 row records 41 deaths in large-truck crashes and 134 deaths from all traffic crashes on that route. Those figures have different scopes: the all-deaths column is not limited to crashes involving large trucks.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Interstate identification uses the recorded route classification and a parseable Interstate route number. The listed route is a route-coded subset, not a complete road network. Work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 5; this figure counts people killed.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Big Horn County had the highest truck accident death count, 23, and a rate of 35.6 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents. Gallatin County recorded 15 deaths and 2.4; Yellowstone County recorded 14 and 1.7. Flathead County had 13 deaths and 2.4.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Judith Basin County had 4 deaths and the highest rate among the listed counties, 38.6. Missoula County had 8 deaths and the lowest listed rate, 1.3. These are selected counties, not every Montana county; rates with small death counts 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 Montana compares with the national rate

Montana's average annual truck accident death rate was 3.1 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts were 175 in Montana and 27,553 nationally. These rates use deaths recorded by crash location, not counts of residents killed.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census population estimates for 2020 through 2024; it does not use only Montana's July 1, 2024 estimate of 1,137,557. Neither mileage nor visitors are adjustments in this calculation. When reading these figures while searching for a truck accident lawyer, keep population-based rates distinct from death counts.^{[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 63 Montana deaths, or 36.0%; it means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include vehicles stopped in traffic. Head-on deaths numbered 36.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime deaths numbered 107 and nighttime deaths 68; urban deaths numbered 31 and rural deaths 144. Separate crash-configuration counts were 56 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 94 in two-vehicle crashes and 25 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration and manner of collision are distinct classifications.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Montana, 39 were killed in single-vehicle crashes and 6 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These figures describe truck occupants only. They do not represent everyone killed in truck accidents involving those crash configurations.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Montana's FARS records cover fatal crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, involving a motor vehicle and a death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county assignments follow crash locations, not the homes of people killed.^[9][6][7][8]

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

See also

• I-90 truck accidents in Montana (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Montana car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Big Horn County, Montana (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)