Nebraska truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Nebraska by year

Truck accident deaths increased each year: 56 in 2020, 57 in 2021, 58 in 2022, 60 in 2023 and 61 in 2024. Their respective shares of Nebraska traffic deaths were 24.0%, 25.8%, 23.8%, 26.4% and 24.3%. The highest death count was in 2024 and the lowest in 2020, a difference of 5 deaths. The share of traffic deaths was highest in 2023 and lowest in 2022.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Nebraska's share of national large-truck deaths was 1.1% in 2020, 2023 and 2024, tied above 1.0% in 2021 and 2022. For 2020 through 2024, Nebraska accounted for 1.1% 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 Nebraska truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 210 truck accident deaths, or 71.9%, the largest person category. People in the large truck accounted for 66 deaths, or 22.6%. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 16 deaths, or 5.5%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

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

The trucks involved

Nebraska's fatal truck accidents involved 269 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 186 trucks, or 69.1%. The single-unit and other large trucks category recorded 83 trucks. These figures count vehicles involved in fatal crashes; they do not count crashes or people who died.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 211, representing 78.4% of the large trucks recorded. There were 8 large trucks recorded as jackknifed and 3 carrying hazardous materials. A fatal crash can involve multiple large trucks, so the truck accident vehicle tally is distinct from the fatal crash tally.^{[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 70 in Nebraska during 2020 through 2024, accounting for 24.0% of large-truck crash deaths. The listed I-80 row records 68 deaths in large-truck crashes and 114 deaths from all traffic crashes on that route. Those are separate measures; the 114 figure is not a truck accident death count.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The interstate figures use the supplied route coding, and the listed route is a subset rather than a complete road network. Work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 15; that figure counts people killed, not crashes or trucks.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Douglas County had the highest truck accident death count, 22, with an average annual rate of 0.7 per 100,000 residents. Lincoln County recorded 17 deaths and a rate of 10.1; Dodge County recorded 14 and 7.5.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Kimball County had the highest rate among the listed counties, 47.7, with 8 deaths. Douglas County and Lancaster County shared the lowest listed rate, 0.7; Lancaster County recorded 11 deaths. These rows are a county subset. Rates based on 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 Nebraska compares with the national rate

Nebraska's average annual truck accident death rate was 3.0 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts were 292 for Nebraska and 27,553 for the United States during 2020 through 2024. Nebraska's rate was higher than the national rate.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Each rate uses deaths divided by summed annual Census population estimates, multiplied by 100,000. Nebraska's separately listed 2024 population of 2,005,591 is not that denominator. The rates make no adjustment for mileage or visitors. For a reader searching for a truck accident lawyer, these figures remain grouped by crash location.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event: angle collisions recorded 110 deaths and head-on collisions 77. The classification concerns motor vehicles in transport, which can be stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck accident deaths by time were 202 daytime, 78 nighttime and 12 with time not reported. Daytime spans 6 a.m. to 5:59 p.m.; nighttime spans 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. Urban deaths numbered 44 and rural deaths 248. Separately, crash configuration recorded 46 single-vehicle deaths, 209 two-vehicle deaths and 37 deaths in crashes involving three or more vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Nebraska truck accidents, 33 died in single-vehicle crashes and 33 in multiple-vehicle crashes. These equal counts describe truck occupants only. They are distinct from the counts covering everyone killed in crashes involving large trucks.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Nebraska'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 counts follow crash location, not the deceased person's residence.^[9][6][7][8]

Records for 2020 through 2023 use Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates use summed annual Census Bureau estimates from Vintage 2025, not the separately displayed July 1, 2024 population. Dividing deaths by that sum and multiplying by 100,000 yields average annual deaths per 100,000 residents, without mileage or visitor adjustments.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-80 truck accidents in Nebraska (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Nebraska car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Douglas County, Nebraska (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)